Blogs
March 25, 2026 / March 25, 2026 by Gina Breckenridge
In partnership with Lori V. Eschete, PharmD, MBA Advanced Practice Pharmacist, SICU/OR At a 640-bed regional referral center with more than 20 operating rooms, four cardiovascular suites, and a Level II Trauma Center, complexity is part of daily life. But for Lori Eschete, complexity wasn’t hindering her clinical team; inefficiency was. And in high-acuity environments, there is no room for outdated processes. As an Advanced Practice Pharmacist supporting surgical and critical care areas at North Mississippi Medical Center – Tupelo (NMMC), Lori saw firsthand the operational strain placed on her pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Surgical volumes were growing, and that meant increased demand for her pharmacy staff. And as she and her team spent hours per shift on manual, time-consuming tasks related to kit and tray replenishment, efficiency gaps became harder to ignore. Rather than accepting the status quo, Lori began digging deeper. To determine a long-term solution, she first needed to understand exactly where the current medication management process was falling short. She started by asking her pharmacy staff about the barriers they faced each day. The answer was clear: time-consuming tray replenishment across numerous operating rooms.What began as a conversation soon became the catalyst for rethinking how the NMMC pharmacy operated.
Pharmacy technicians at NMMC were walking miles each day between the inpatient pharmacy and 20 operating rooms (ORs). Up to two hours per shift were spent manually checking anesthesia trays, reconciling expired medications, and replacing recalled products. Lori described this as completing “Every tray, every day” checks, which meant technicians and pharmacists were physically touching every vial in each OR tray to verify expiration dates, usage, and drug recall status. On days when no medications were recalled, pharmacy staff manually reviewed an average of 15-18 trays per day. At NMMC, a single OR tray contains between 70 and 80 items, including vials, syringes, nebulized ampules, and more. Pharmacy technicians were required to sift through 1,000+ medications per shift, and that was just for the OR. However, on recall days (though these were more infr, this process was even more cumbersome because staff had to move quickly, walking to the OR suites to retrieve recalled medications from each tray. Rather than verifying the usual 15-18 trays, pharmacy staff were required to manually inspect all 50 OR trays, bringing the grand total to over 3,000 medications.
This was not only physically exhausting and inefficient—it also prevented highly skilled pharmacists from doing more meaningful clinical work. Lori put pen to paper and mapped out the medication management workflow using a “spaghetti model,” a business tool for identifying process inefficiencies. However, the drive to find a better solution wasn’t solely about technology or automation. “I asked myself, what can I do to keep moving toward working at the top of my license? What can I do to continue to provide the best care? What am I doing to make sure I’m providing better care and safer environments for the providers that I work alongside every day?” That mindset reframed the entire initiative.
Technology only works if people trust it and see the benefits. That’s why Lori and her team worked closely with OR staff and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) to ensure they felt included in the decision-making process. “I want our CRNAs to have the confidence that we’re choosing the right technology along with them, choosing the best solution that will remove workarounds from their workflow,” Lori shared. Several CRNAs expressed enthusiasm for using advanced technology that enhances safety and reduces workarounds: “They’re listening to us. They know what we’re asking for. They’re going to give us integrated systems, and they’re going to give us the technology so we can lead with innovation and set the example for other healthcare systems.” This collaborative approach transformed RFID from a pharmacy initiative into a shared clinical advancement designed to remove workflow barriers for clinicians.
Lori explored automation solutions that would relieve the manual burden placed on clinical staff. When she discovered RFID-powered inventory management, she saw more than a technology upgrade—she saw protection.After months of gathering feedback, NMMC partnered with Intelliguard to implement Mira Prep™, an automated RFID pharmacy inventory management system within the inpatient pharmacy.One feature stood out above the rest: data accuracy that providers can trust. “The power of RFID is that it stays; that data is hardwired. The powerful information it holds shows the protection it can provide during drug shortages and potential diversion events,” Lori said.With drug shortages increasing and diversion prevention becoming a larger priority across healthcare systems, visibility into medication inventory is becoming increasingly important. Today, more than 33% of hospitals in the United States use RFID technology to help manage medication inventory and supply chain risk.
With Mira Prep, pharmacy staff place new or used medication trays into an RFID-enabled enclosure. In less than 10 seconds, hundreds of tagged medications can be scanned and verified simultaneously.What once took several minutes per tray—multiplied by 20 operating rooms—is now completed almost instantly. Intelliguard’s system automatically flags:
Secure, cloud-based data provides clear visibility into critical medication inventory across care areas, empowering the NMMC pharmacy team to act proactively and with confidence. The burden of walking miles per day was gone. Manual counts were replaced by automated precision. And pharmacists got their time back to focus on clinical support and operate at the top of their licenses.
Within months of implementation, NMMC experienced measurable improvements:
By implementing RFID-powered pharmacy stations, NMMC transformed medication management from a manual, time-consuming process into a connected, automated system that delivers real-time visibility and control across the health system. What began as a pharmacy initiative quickly delivered enterprise-wide operational improvements. RFID-powered automation allowed her team to practice at a higher clinical level. It reduced burnout tied to repetitive manual tasks. It strengthened trust between the pharmacy and perioperative teams and helped to ensure that critical medications were available when patients needed them most. Leaders like Lori demonstrate that innovation doesn’t start with technology—it starts with listening to frontline teams, advocating for better processes, and aligning around a shared goal. Today, medication management at NMMC isn’t just faster; it’s smarter. It catches errors that humans might miss when faced with increasingly complex environments. And it highlights that technology serves as a supplemental safeguard, not meant to replace clinicians, but to protect the providers who care for patients each and every day.