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IntelliGuard
IntelliGuard Anesthesia
ig.solutions
Manually keeping track of my drug sup-
plies in the OR, or even using a bar-
coded system, can be time-consuming
and lead to inaccurate inventories and
breaks in the chain of custody, which are
key issues when handling controlled sub-
stances. So-called "smart medication
management carts" like this present a
better — if more costly — way to man-
age medications by automating the
process end-to-end and keeping track of
medication supplies centrally. This cart
combines hardware, software and analyt-
ics powered by Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to
manage drug inventory more proactively. To prevent theft and abuse,
2-factor identification is required to unlock the drawers, and the clini-
cian name, credentials, date and time are recorded digitally. You can
manually enter case information or integrate an EMR to select from a
pre-populated list. After you remove the drug and close the drawer,
the drawer's contents are scanned and the medications you removed
are associated with the case and provider. Your pharmacy, if you have
one, is plugged into the system, knows exactly what you have on
hand, and can replenish your supplies before you're caught empty-
handed. This can really simplify things for both clinicians and admin-
istrators, and provide more accurate documentation, but be advised,
these machines are expensive — I didn't get a price from this vendor,
but they usually cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.
