visit vch.ca

You are here: Home > Omnicell tour attracts a crowd at LGH

August 18, 2015

Mark F. Collins (r), Director – Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services, explains the safety features of Omnicell’s automated dispensing cabinets to Lions Gate Hospital Foundation Board member Liz Dickson and Foundation President Judy Savage while an Omnicell representative looks on.

Omnicell tour attracts a crowd at LGH

Was it the sunshine or the siren call of free coffee and sandwiches that lured about 115 Lions Gate Hospital nurses, pharmacists, physicians and other staffers outside to take a peek inside a “green beast” at the Evergreen House parking lot last week?

Seniors from Evergreen might have ambled over for the sampling of free snacks, but hospital staff came for the opportunity to glimpse into the future of health care inside a semitrailer filled with sophisticated technology. LGH was the third and final B.C. stop on the whirlwind Omnicell Mobile Tour, which showcased the company’s Automated Dispensing Cabinets (ADCs) and Controlled Substance Management cabinets (CSMs).

Visitors, who also included representatives from the LGH and Sechelt Hospital foundations, had the opportunity to look and get hands-on experience on the latest medication management technology and a peek into the future on how the Clinical Systems and Transformation (CST) project and Closed Loop Medication Management system will ultimately improve patient safety.

“The weather was great and we had a great turnout,” said Cathy Figura, Project Manager – Closed Loop Medication Management, Pharmacy Infrastructure Project Clinical & Systems Transformation, who helped organize the Omnicell tour. “Many thanks to the LGH site team who worked so hard to make this happen. Many times I popped my head out the Omnicell truck door only to see a line up of seniors from Evergreen House helping themselves to the sandwiches. Too cute.”

Starting this fall, new and upgraded ADCs –  which play an important role in medication safety – will be rolled out at hospitals across the Lower Mainland and throughout Coastal. At LGH, ADCs are already in use on the 7th floor, Hope Centre, ICU and PAR/OR with more scheduled for the entire hospital this fall and next spring.

“It’s exciting to see what’s coming soon that will make our jobs easier and help improve patient safety,” said LGH pharmacy technician Lul Zeru, one of the many LGH staff members who visited the Omnicell truck.

More information on the rollout of ADCs will be communicated to staff and physicians in the coming months.