Background

There is a strong focus on patient safety in connection with medication, which means that it is highly relevant to test novel products that help to increase patient safety. The e-cupboard, which is an electronic medicine cupboard, is developed by the Finnish company NewIcon, which established an Odense-based branch in 2017 to introduce the e-cupboard in a Danish context. Foreign products can rarely be implemented directly in a Danish context, and therefore both product testing and customisation are needed.

The e-cupboard helps and guides staff by means of LED lighting and sensor technology, making the drug dispensing procedures safer. Furthermore, the e-cupboard keeps track of the amount and durability of the medicine contained in the cupboard, so that the oldest medicine is used first. It further contributes to reducing drug waste. All actions in the e-cupboard are logged for future documentation and statistics. When medicine is taken out of the e-cupboard and used, a list of orders is automatically generated for the pharmacy, so that the cupboard never runs out of medicine.

Purpose/Vision

The purpose of the project is to test the e-cupboard at the Common Emergency Reception (FAM) at Odens University Hospital (OUH), and also to investigate whether there will be any benefits achieved by using the e-cupboard at the New OUH.

The project will introduce and test the e-cupboard by using the newly developed technology for drug dispensing. In addition, a more detailed analysis will be carried out on staff's user experience as well as input to improvements in a Danish context.

Project Activities:

• Two-phase test periods to provide the basis for evaluation of the e-cupboard
• Collection and analysis of knowledge received from nurses at FAM/OUH as well as from staff working at the hospital pharmacy about their experiences with the e-cupboard
• Analysis of the organisational conditions in connection with the use of the e-cupboard
• Knowledge dissemination of the project via www.patientathome.dk
• Organisation of information meetings for dissemination of knowledge to relevant external actors
• Preparation of final evaluation and product sheet.

Expected Results

Nurses at FAM/OUH will be informed of - and test - new innovative technologies that can be instrumental in increasing patient safety and minimise the risk of accidental drug-dispensing incidents. The changes in workflows and tasks at FAM and the hospital pharmacy at OUH will be so significant that there is a need for step-by-step preparations before moving into the New OUH.

The staff at OUH will be prepared to meet the changed conditions at the New OUH which holds no traditional medicine rooms, only five cluster pharmacies. It is expected that the staff at the hospital pharmacy/OUH through the e-cupboard can streamline the medical stock control and thus ensure that the departments at any point in time have the amounts of drugs that are required - no more, no less.