Expanding Patient Safety with Codonics Partnership | Intelliguard

Expanding Patient Safety: Combining the Intelliguard Mira Care Station with the Codonics Safe Label System

Access to the right medications at the right time in the OR is critically important to patient safety. Medication errors such as mislabeling, or inadvertent medication swaps at preparation can be fatal for patients. That’s why Intelliguard and Codonics have partnered to further strengthen patient safety in an environment where every move matters.  

CODONICS Safe Label System is now available with Intelliguard’s Mira Care Station. Reach out to the Intelliguard team to learn more.

Pairing Intelliguard’s Mira Care Station and the Codonics Safe Label System

In the operating room, there is one drug administration medication error for every 133 anesthetics delivered, and one in 250 of those errors is fatal.¹ Lack of visibility to the correct drug can be deadly, and look-alike packages and labels are common contributors to those medication errors. In fact, vial swaps, mislabeling/illegible labeling, and syringe swaps are the OR’s three most common medication errors, accounting for more than 60 percent of errors made.³

The Mira Care Station, part of our RFID inventory management system, helps solve this problem by tracking medication from the manufacturer to the point of care with unparalleled accuracy. Medication management solutions such as this ensure end-to-end visibility and secure dispensing of the medications that clinicians need for their patients. 

Now, with the ability to integrate the Codonics Safe Label System into the Mira Care Station’s workflow, clinicians have a fast, easy, and safe way to help eliminate medication errors. Pairing the Mira Care Station with the Codonics Safe Label System in the OR enables clinicians to print TJC-compliant labels for syringes, plus lines labels, patient labels or customized labels on demand – further enhancing patient safety measures after medications have been securely dispensed from the workstation. The Codonics Safe Label System utilizes visual and audible electronic safety checks to eliminate labeling errors and ensure consistency in medication preparation, allowing clinicians to reliably select the correct medication.

Closing the Gaps in the Patient Safety Loop

The Codonics Safe Label System reads information from a drug container and electronically verifies it against the pharmacy’s hospital-approved drug database. After a drug is removed from the Mira Care Station, it is scanned on the Codonics Safe Label System, which presents the care provider with audible and visual confirmation of the drug name and concentration. The system then automatically prints a fully compliant, easy-to-read, full-color label, eliminating the need for handwriting and ensuring safety and accuracy.

The Codonics Safe Label System captures the NDC from the parenteral vial and transfers it to the syringe label barcode, enabling accurate charge capture for 340B accountability when the syringe is scanned into the AIMS/EHR. These potential savings are in addition to the nearly $100,000 in annual recouped charges per OR that Mira Care Station already provides.⁶

Meeting Industry Guidelines 

By combining the two systems, health systems will be in compliance with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) Guidelines for Safe Medication Use in Perioperative and Procedural settings, developed to support hospitals in addressing identified national gaps in perioperative and procedural medication safety. The Codonics Safe Label Systemmeets the following ISMP guidelines⁴:

• ISMP Guideline 4.3: To remove handwritten labels in perioperative/procedural areas by 2025
• ISMP Guideline 4.4: To include a machine-readable code (e.g., barcode, RFID) on all syringe and infusion labels, including those that are practitioner-prepared, by 2025
• ISMP Guideline 10.12: Take steps to implement machine-readable coding (e.g., barcode scanning, RFID) in intra-operative/intra-procedural workflows to confirm medication solution selection prior to administration.
• ISMP Guideline 10.13: Take steps to implement and integrate machine-readable coding (e.g. barcode scanning, RFID) to support real-time EHR documentation of medication doses and fluid administration in all pre-operative/ pre-procedural, intra-operative/intra-procedural, and postoperative/ post-procedural settings.

The Codonics Safe Label System also meets syringe label elements required by the Joint Commission, National Patient Safety Goals, and American Society of Anesthesiologists guidelines for full-colored labels.

In a complementary capacity, Intelliguard RFID medication management solutions meet American System of Health-System Pharmacists guidelines and enable compliance with the Drug Supply Chain Security Act.

Medication Management Solutions for an Enhanced Environment of Safety

The new Intelliguard /Codonics partnership is meaningful for the future of patient safety in the OR. The combination further fosters a safety-driven environment for every medication decision from supplier to patient.  

To learn more about Intelligaurd’s Mira Care Station and the Codonics Safe Label System, contact Intelliguard today.

References

1. Merry AF, Peck DJ. Anesthetists, Errors in Drug Administration and the Law. N Z Med J. 1995; 24:185-187.
2. “Risk of Relying on Human Perfection” White Paper, 2015
3. Anesthesiology News, January 2012: Bar-Code Scanning Can Fix ‘Black-Hole’ of OR Drug Safety
4. Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP). ISMP Guidelines for Safe Medication Use in Perioperative and Procedural Settings. ISMP; 2022.
5. “Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology to Optimize an IDN’s 340B Drug Pricing Program” Emanate Health Case Study, 2018
6. Current Intelliguard Mira Care Customer