|
|
| California County Uses Medication-Dispensing Machine in Correctional Facilities |
| By govtech.com |
| Published: 08/26/2009 |
|
Corrections departments are responsible for so many burdensome tasks that many of their everyday functions, like administering prescription drugs to inmates, are afterthoughts for the public. However, dispensing medication was so laborious and wasteful for the San Bernardino County (Calif.) Sheriff-Coroner Department that officials sought a way to streamline the process. The end product was essentially a vending machine that links to correctional facility databases and dispenses prescription medications. San Bernardino County -- the largest county by area in the United States -- has seven correctional facilities scattered across its more than 20,000 square miles. Terry Fillman, health services supervisor of the county sheriff's West Valley Detention Center, said at one of the locations it took four nurses -- each working four hours every day -- to prep medicine for delivery to prisoners. The time-intensive process also generated medical waste because inmates might be moved between facilities or released during the time it took to prepare their medications, which left some prescriptions unused. Pharmaceutical regulations require that if medication is prepared for a patient and he or she can't be reached, it's deemed undeliverable and must be destroyed. The leftovers are typically flushed down the toilet or incinerated. Also, many medications are packaged in 30-count blister packs that are prescribed for individual patients and must be disposed of if that person no longer needs the medicine or is released from the correctional facility. Read More. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think