ATLAS eMAR is now more integrated with pharmacies than ever, here is how

The management of medication information is one of the most crucial aspects of ensuring that every resident receives the right medication at the right time in the right way, and the best way to ensure this is by investing in an eMAR system that provides two-way pharmacy integration. 

Whether it’s changes in dose, prescriptions or stock levels, care homes need to ensure that they are always in communication with their chosen pharmacy to ensure that changes to medication are not missed, or medicines are never under or overstocked. The best and most effective way to provide this is by using two-way linked barcode technology, such as that used by ATLAS eMAR’s handheld device, to provide real-time information on current stock levels as well as medication administration. 

How ATLAS eMAR’s pharmacy integration has benefited care homes and pharmacies 

ATLAS eMAR’s pharmacy integration has already had a transformative effect on the level of business pharmacies were able to achieve. One of our pharmacy customers, when we spoke to them, said: “When I bought the pharmacy, we started off only doing about 1,000 items a month – fast forward two years and thanks in no small point to ATLAS Pharmacy and we’re doing 9,000 items a month.” 

Read the full success story here.

Taking the next step to make the process even easier 

Previously, the integration between pharmacies and ATLAS eMAR meant that pharmacies would dispense a prescription using their PMR, then transfer that information to ATLAS Pharmacy, and perform the clinical checks again before setting up medication details.  

While that was a process that helped pharmacies to improve safety standards, information oversight and reduce errors, we recognised that improvements could be made to save even more time and make even greater improvements to efficiency while never sacrificing safety, compliance or communication. 

Now, there are some key changes being made to make the pharmacy integration even stronger, even safer, and even more streamlined. Whereas before, pharmacies would need to input information twice, now we are eliminating double data entry: now pharmacies will not have to re-enter the data into PCS Pharmacy: the data will pull directly from the pharmacy’s chosen PMR right to our system. This cuts out a step in the process where errors might occur, without sacrificing safety.   

Not only that but now care homes to take back the control of scheduling medications, meaning that they can take the medication that has received clinical checks by the pharmacist and be able to set schedules in a safe, intuitive and person-centred way.  

Now, the improvements made to the integration removes duplicate workload, gives care homes more control over their medications and allows pharmacies to focus solely on clinical safety checks.  

Resident match – the newest safety feature of the pharmacy integration process 

Ensuring that residents are receiving the right medication is obviously the most important aspect of medication management, but errors in the administration process can sometimes occur when a care home is dealing with dozens of residents, each with specific and complex medication needs, where many different prescriptions are being put through regularly. Especially with a new prescription, perhaps for a new resident, ensuring the medication goes to the right person is crucial. Resident match is the newest feature which means that when a new prescription comes in for a resident, the care home must verify the resident’s identity to ensure the right medication goes to the right person. 

On this new screen, care homes can compare incoming prescription details with existing resident records and checks five key criteria: first name, surname, date of birth, sex and NHS number. 

If there are discrepancies in the new prescription information, such as a different date of birth, the system will highlight the differences and prevent matching a resident with a medication until the corrections are made. This means that the problem of duplicating resident records is avoided, returning residents are reinstated by keeping previous records, and it ensures consistent resident information across the entire system. 

With this step that verifies resident identity before processing prescriptions, an extra layer of safety is added to the process of medication management.