OREANDA-NEWS. Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX) is committed to enhancing the safety of medication preparation, and today announced the DoseEdge Pharmacy Workflow Manager has alerted clinicians to more than three million potential medication preparation errors prior to medication being administered to patients. This equates to identifying more than one thousand potential medication errors every day.

Medication errors are a significant cause of patient harm in the United States and take a substantial economic toll on the healthcare system. Each year, injectable medications administered in the United States are associated with an estimated 1.2 million preventable adverse drug events, which results in an estimated $2.7 billion to $5.1 billion in additional healthcare costs – an average of $600,000 per U.S. hospital.

Some of these errors may originate in the hospital pharmacy clean room, where medications are prepared or “compounded,” a process in which medications are mixed, combined or adjusted to meet specific patient needs. Between 2004 and 2011, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) reported serious compounding errors that resulted in multiple patient deaths, mostly due to wrong concentration/strength, wrong drug or wrong solution used to dilute the drug.  In its 2016-2017 Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for Hospitals, the ISMP recommends the use of technology such as barcode scanning verification of ingredients and IV workflow software to help ensure proper ingredients are added when compounding sterile preparations.3

DoseEdge is an innovative software solution that integrates with hardware used in medication preparation—including barcode scanners, cameras and gravimetric devices that measure final dose weight—to automate the process of routing, inspecting, tracking and reporting on intravenous (IV) and oral liquid medication doses. With DoseEdge, clinicians can conduct preproduction checks to help identify common medication preparation errors. Almost 40 percent of the errors DoseEdge has intercepted since 2008 are due to use of an incorrect drug.

When life-saving and sustaining medicines are prepared in the pharmacy, delivered, and administered at the hospital bedside, Baxter is there,” said Philip Rackliffe, Global Franchise Head of Baxter’s Integrated Pharmacy Solutions franchise. “DoseEdge is an example of Baxter’s commitment to the pharmacy, and is designed to help pharmacists verify that every dose of medication they prepare is delivered in a timely, accurate and efficient manner.

Since its introduction, DoseEdge has become a crucial component in hospital clean rooms where medications are prepared, and has processed a total of 72 million medication doses.

The DoseEdge System is not intended to replace the knowledge, judgement or expertise of pharmacists or pharmacy technicians in the preparation of IV admixtures or oral liquid doses.

For safe and proper use of this device, refer to the appropriate Users Guide.

About Baxter

Baxter provides a broad portfolio of essential renal and hospital products, including home, acute and in-center dialysis; sterile IV solutions; infusion systems and devices; parenteral nutrition; biosurgery products and anesthetics; and pharmacy automation, software and services. The company’s global footprint and the critical nature of its products and services play a key role in expanding access to healthcare in emerging and developed countries. Baxter’s employees worldwide are building upon the company’s rich heritage of medical breakthroughs to advance the next generation of healthcare innovations that enable patient care.