Omnicell's eMAR Solution Helping Care Homes to Manage their Covid 19 Vaccination Programmes
Omnicell Inc (NASDAQ:OMCL), a leading provider of supply and medication management solutions and adherence tools for healthcare systems and pharmacies, today announces how its eMAR solution is supporting the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Residents in care homes take an average of 7.2 medicines per day. With each additional medicine comes an increased risk of errors in prescription, monitoring, dispensing or administration, adverse drug reactions, impaired medicines adherence which can lead to compromised quality of life for patients. CQC’s annual state of care report found that safety was the biggest concern with one of the main contributing factors being poor medicines management.
With the vaccination programme now well underway in the UK, Omnicell’s eMAR solution has been enhanced to help support care homes to manage recording of the medication in terms of timing, dosage, and type of vaccination used.
As with any other medication, this vaccine needs to be managed and administered safely. New features to the eMAR care home solution have been introduced to ensure that staff can easily record the type of vaccine, when it was administered, and whether it was the first or second injection. Crucially it will also help care home staff identify when residents are due for the second part of their vaccine. As with all medication, residents have the right to refuse and should that be the case, the Omnicell eMAR solution also captures this information too.
The Omnicell eMAR system automates the entire medication management and administration process for each care home resident, supporting administration of their right medication at the right time. Now, care home management and staff can have the COVID-19 vaccine status of each resident at their fingertips as part of the eMAR Reporting Suite.
The eMAR system gathers information, while providing prompts and accurate instructions for staff and managers in real time at the touch of a button. Each individual medication is identified through a barcode, normally applied in pharmacy, which can then be tracked at all stages from check in at the care home through administration to a resident. It provides an invaluable medication history for each patient and includes a simple alert and verification system to minimise the risk of medication errors in the care home. 1
Heather Bethune, Care Home Manager at Abbeyfield House Care Home, comments;
"The new COVID-19 recording feature has been a huge help for our care home. All of the vaccine information is recorded in one place and it's presented alongside all the medication that we've administered - where it should be, so it's great to have a simple overview of everything that’s medication related. We can record the type of vaccine that the resident has been given and the date they were administered. This allows us to know when the second vaccination is required for each resident. The system allows you to input information retrospectively which is a great help when we have new residents join the home who have already had the vaccine. It's a really simple and easy to use system that is helping us to manage the COVID-19 virus.”
Cyrus Hodivala, Medication Adherence Sales Director at Omnicell UK & Ireland, comments;
“Here at Omnicell we are constantly looking at new ways to respond to our clients needs with innovative solutions. And as such, we are pleased to announce the new features and enhancements to our eMAR solution which will help support care homes to manage their COVID-19 vaccination programmes. We anticipate that this will help to drive much needed efficiencies for staff during this difficult time, as well as support patient safety within the care sector.”
This is just the latest example of innovation from Omnicell’s eMAR solution. Recently Omnicell UK, and Nourish Care, a leading electronic care planning provider, came together to provide a new integration that gives care staff greater visibility of a patient’s medication regime as part of their overall care plan. Managing and monitoring resident’s medication regimes effectively can significantly impact the delivery and quality of care. Historically care planning and medication administration systems have been managed completely separate. This can potentially contribute to failings in support of residents’ care. The new integration means that Omnicell eMAR can now share data related to medication with the Nourish Care system, providing greater insight and driving best practice into the safety and individual care of each resident in the home.
For additional press information please contact Jo Gulliver or Imogen Daldy at Trinity PR on tel: 02071124905 or email jo.gulliver@trinitypr.co.uk/imogen.daldy@trinitypr.co.uk
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