Carousel technology, what’s the value?

One can only imagine that articles about carousel dispensing technology (CDT) would generate quite a bit of interest for a company that builds and promotes carousel driven medication storage and dispensing. Right? Right. So it wasn’t with any great surprise that I received an email in my inbox pointing me to an article in the March 2011 (Vol. 8 No. 3 – Page #26) issue of Pharmacy Purchasing & Products (PP&P) magazine. The article titled “Reducing Error Potential with Carousel Implementation” discusses the implementation and use of CDT at Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC); a 411 bed facility in Bangor, Maine.

The article contains a lot of good information on not only how to approach CDT implementation, but shares both the financial and patient safety benefits following implementation as well. From a purely financial standpoint EMMC was able to show a 32% reduction in inventory, an increase in the number of inventory turns from 24 to 33 and a reduction in expired medications secondary to expiration tracking functionality in the technology. While saving money is important in today’s healthcare environment, I believe the more important benefit was the 84% reduction in dispensing errors seen by EMMC following CDT implementation. Not only does a reduction in dispensing errors improve patient safety, but it indirectly safes healthcare dollars as well. The data presented in the article is consistent with previous articles on CDT use.¹

The author of the article concludes that “implementation of carousels and other automation systems are an investment in patient safety and staff efficiency. In our hospital, the financial costs of implementation were returned exponentially in both the hard and soft gains the system delivers. As the medication distribution model continues to evolve and incorporate new technologies, it is important to consider not only the immediate financial cost, but also the dividends in improved patient care and safety the system will offer over time.” Well said.

1. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2010;67:821-9

This is the short link.