Sculptor Developmental Technologies, Inc. has entered into an agreement with Leading Information Technologies Institute, Inc. (LITI) of Tokyo, Japan to market and distribute Sculptor's VeriScan medication administration system to healthcare organizations in 15 Asian nations.
The VeriScan system utilizes dual technology of bar codes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag readers to track medication administered by the nurse directly at the patient's bedside. Under the license agreement, LITI will incorporate VeriScan software technology into its products and then market those products to hospitals and other healthcare organizations in countries such as Japan, Indonesia, Korea and China.
VeriScan runs on Pocket PCs equipped with a dual RFID and bar code reader. The nurse scans the bar code on the medication package and RFID tags on both the patient's wristband and the nurse's identification badge. VeriScan was developed by Sculptor's software engineers in 2003 using "real-world" input of St. Clair Hospital physicians, nurses and clinicians. Tested at the 331-bed St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA, the system is now installed in four U.S. hospitals. St. Clair Hospital is now piloting an enhancement to VeriScan that checks lab specimens and blood transfusions.
Updates or changes to a patient's medication order are available in real-time, providing the nurse instant access to those changes. VeriScan also automatically charts each medication administration into the patient's Electronic Medical Record (EMR), saving data entry time and reducing the chance for additional errors.
RFID technology was adopted for the patient's wristband and the caregiver's ID badge primarily because it does not require direct contact or line-of-sight necessary for a bar code reader.
