Features

What's so special about Omnicell?

We believe we have a unique and very appropriate solution for the UK. Omnicell is a tried and tested system used extensively in the U.S. But its flexible design and features make it appropriate and effective in the UK, which is why our trials have been so successful in the NHS.

Five reasons why we are the best choice for the NHS:

• It is a superbly designed integrated modular system for both supplies and pharmacy that works in wards, theatres and labs.
• It is a simple robust product that a hospital can implement quickly and which works from week one.
• It has intuitive powerful analysis software which, for example, analyses complete patient level costs for Supplies and Drugs to assist with PbR, accessible on any network PC in the Trust.
• It has the ideal design for UK Pharmacy pack sizes and medicines and a host of evolved patient safety features.
• It has the pedigree and long-term support of Omnicell who have fifteen years in hospital automation.

Features of the system

Automated reordering and control of the stock

Omnicell cabinets count your stock both in and out of the system and reorders goods as often as you specify when the reorder level is trigreged. More than this - by providing you with a full analysis of usage patterns it guides you to the most appropriate stock level to hold and tells you from the reporting when this level needs to be changed.

Data entry and manual processes reduce enormously and because the system reorders itself it outpaces even screen based e-proc systems that still require you to assess and select on screen what you need. Omnicell does all this for you liberating your precious clinical or management time.

Practical and flexible cabinets with drawer and shelf modules

The Omnicell systems are designed to give maximum flexibility and space efficiency. The attractive, hygienic cabinets are available in one, two and three cell combinations.

Drawers and shelves can be arranged as you wish and can be easily reconfigured. The extensive range of cabinet and drawer options ensures that everything from catheters and stents to original packs and individual doses can be accommodated. The cabinets and software can be used for pharmacy or supply items or a combination of both.

Watch your stock shrink in volume and space as it is optimized, reduced and tidied up.

Medicines and Supplies - on their own or together

If a Trust uses Omnicell to control both drugs and MSSE it reaps some considerable cost, training, reporting and space benefits. Omnicell uniquely is a properly evolved medicine management tool as well as a supplies stock control and reporting system.

The same configurable shelving system that works so well for products as diverse as dressings, pacemakers, stents and masks will hold efficient densely packed TTOs or boxes of Adrenalin in Theatre.

And whilst you can combine the two inside the same system and cabinet they are kept in separate cabinet zones and controlled by different rules. Supplies are governed by the need for speed - log in, choose the charge code, take and press the button. Medicines are controlled with patient safety at the forefront - log in, choose the patient, pre-select the medicine, look at the clinical and allergy alerts, access instructions on line if needed, go to the indicated place, take the drug confirm by bar code if required, confirm and finally dispense.

Closed and open systems

Omnicell know that the best compliance and data integrity comes from closed secure systems. Open systems also have their place though - where the goods value doesn't suggest cabinets, where stocks are bulky or where space doesn't permit. Omnicell works as an open system using bar codes or product descriptions and can be a stand alone station or as 'remote items' added onto a cabinet.

The data reporting is consistent with Omnicell cabinets in the same Trust so you are able to consolidate, view and analyse the data as a whole and track a patients cost across the whole hospital.

Wide choice of options for pharmacy and supplies

A number of system options are available including catheter and suture modules, drug return bins, a range of pharmacy drawers, single dose dispensing systems and a software only version with a scanner for managing items stored on open shelves.

From Fridgelocks and drug return bins to deep supply drawers, and from bio-ID access to in depth software functions, Omnicell has the complete suite of products you would expect from a mature tested system with 15 years of pedigree.

Easy to use, easy to implement anywhere

We have implemented entire systems from delivery to use in a theatre or ward in a matter of days. That is cabinets configured, stock transferred, system set up and staff trained.

From the Operating Theatre itself, to wards, storerooms, corridors and laboratories the cabinets can be positioned to improve and enhance materials flow and increase your staff's working efficiency. They always have what they need, where they need it.

The cabinets have easy touch-screen operation and Omnicell's unique 'guiding light' technology quickly directs users by providing a flashing light at the location of specified items. It works in any hospital department delivering value for money from week one.

Staff and users like Omnicell and our record of new system acceptance in the NHS is very good.

Secure controlled access

Moving supplies and medicines from comparatively open storage to secure cabinet and drawer systems gives huge advantages for security and cost control. Omnicell systems offer a range of security and access options; log-in is securely controlled by PIN code, ID card or fingerprint ID and access to cabinets, cabinet zones, drawers or even individual drawer compartments is restricted to users with specific authorisation.

Protecting and securing stock and tracking usage changes attitudes and prevents shrinkage and 'borrowing' as well as making staff value products more and take more care over waste.

Full data capture

Omnicell's cabinet software records the details of every transaction including item, nurse, patient, department, cost, date, time and serial number. Every transaction can be recorded and traced, 24 hours a day.

This allows proper management of stock, governance of Pharmacy issues, control of staff and crucially the ability to make appropiate management decisions based on real data.

A properly networked system

A fully networked system is the key to getting maximum value from your Omnicell installation. The data is there, collected and analysed on a server - cost per patient, cost by consultant, usage by dept or by product. Usage rates, stock levels and cost profiles. A wealth of information to save your staff, buyers and management time and empower them to do their jobs.

The Omnicell network philosophy means that this data is accessible and usable and everyone authorized can look at and refer to the same consistent data Trust wide. Instead of diverse opinions based on inconsistent and hard-to-obtain figures decisions can be based on common real understanding of the facts.

See the stock everywhere - and use it too!

Seeing stock everywhere, on any cabinet or any PC transforms operating efficiency. Staff no longer spend hours on the teplephone chasing down stock or changing work flow due to lack of materials or medicines. The OmniExplorer function turns a cabinet into a web browser and will tell you the availability of any product hospital wide.

You can then go and get the product and charge it to your department or patient provided you have the authorization to do it. And all the records of interdepartmental costing is done automatically and finance can obtain that data over the network themselves. No more wasted clinical time accounting for and reclaiming costs. And when your cabinet runs low, it will simply reorder.

Interfaces to purchasing, pharmacy systems and E-proc

Integration with existing hospital systems such as patient records, the purchasing system, and pharmacy systems allows a vast range of further economies to be effected. Automated order direct to supplier. Costings into the finance system for PbR analysis. Records of implants to the Patient records. The possibilities are considerable and we ensure the best value is obtained by the use of simple and practical interfaces that deliver value.