By paNOW

Patients will reap benefits of new Vic Hospital pill packaging system

Nov 30, 2017 | 3:00 PM

Prince Albert’s Victoria Hospital Foundation is hoping the community will respond generously – as they have so often in the past – to an important fundraising goal.

Friday’s 12th Annual Give A Little Day radiothon aims to raise $400,000 for an automated pill packaging system like the one recently installed at Battlefords Union Hospital (BUH).

The pharmacy at the Victoria Hospital still uses an antiquated manual counting and packaging process that consumes too much of the staff’s time. Pharmacists would rather work directly with doctors and patients on their specific medication needs.

At BUH, the pharmacy crew is already planning ways of using the many hours they’re now saving thanks to the new system.

“We’re really excited about this,” Barry Lyons said, regional director of pharmacy for the Prairie North Health Region. “The initial investment is going to pay off very quickly in how we are able to get our professionals to the bedside and talking to patients and families.”

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Lyons said their pill packaging process, which involves roughly 800 dosages per day, has been streamlined by around three hours which has allowed them to prepare for what he calls “a remodeling of how pharmacists offer care.”

One of the first things staff have been freed up to do is to take medication histories from patients when they come into the hospital or ER.

“People take more medications than they ever have and are living longer because of it,” Lyons said. “We need the pharmacy professionals there to make sure those medications are managed the right way and patients understand why, when, and how to take them.”

The modern equipment not only dramatically increases volume and speed of medication packaging, but there is a crucial safety element too. Lyons said while there are always manual visual checks in place to spot any inaccuracies, the new system has cut down further on any mistakes.

“[With the old equipment] we used to find mistakes before they left the department and now they are a rare occurrence. The software scans barcodes as part of the packaging process and there are now triple redundancies in place.”

The Victoria Hospital Foundation is hoping for the usual enthusiastic reaction from the community tomorrow so the P.A. facility can experience the same benefits seen at BUH. Over the last 12 years, the radiothon has raised $5 million for the Victoria Regional Hospital.

The annual radiothon goes live from 6 a.m. till 6 p.m. on CKBI, Power 99 and XFM. The public can give or pledge by phone, online or in person at the Victoria Hospital Friday. The new phone number for pledges is 1-855-816-LIFE, or donate online at www.helpthevic.ca.

–With files from Angela Brown.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow