Pharmacy OneSource Launches Accupedia: the New Pediatric Patient Safety Application Based on Patent-Pending Technology from the University of Maryland

February 13, 2006 (PRLEAP.COM) Health News
Bellevue, WA — Pharmacy OneSource, pharmacy's #1 documentation and formulary application service provider, today launched Accupedia(TM), a new web-based application that eliminates “rule of six” dosing of intravenous drugs for pediatric patients.

Accupedia helps physicians order accurate pediatric drips based upon standardized concentrations with real-time fluid load monitoring. One-button optimization of complicated drip order sets minimizes fluids and maximizes dose based on preset algorithms developed by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center.

"We are honored to introduce this first-of-its-kind application that improves the safety of the most fragile patients," said Keith Streckenbach, Executive Vice President of Pharmacy OneSource. “Accupedia also improves the infusion dosing, preparation and administrative workflow of prescribers, pharmacists and nurses while meeting standardization goals.”

Accupedia increases the safety of pediatric drip orders and facilitates hospital compliance with JCAHO’s National Patient Safety Goal 3B. It also assists with standardization of quality of care and provides confidence from use of fully referenced, patent-pending technology.

“The research team is excited about the launch of Accupedia, as we see the technology and solutions that we developed come to fruition,” said Vinay Vaidya, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and project leader. “Accupedia represents a product that has taken an established and working solution and has enhanced it even further to provide a comprehensive, safe and efficient solution for using standardized concentrations.”

More information about Accupedia can be found at: http://www.pharmacyonesource.com/accupedia/info/default.asp

About the icudrips.org project:
A multidisciplinary team led by Vinay Vaidya, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine initiated a project in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center to tackle the challenge of standardizing continuous drug infusions in pediatric patients. The research team developed software to automate the process of generating standard concentrations for any drug, collaborated with national leaders to develop a consensus, conducted a large national survey of this subject, and developed a CPOE solution for ordering, compounding and administering continuous infusions using standard concentrations. The technology was licensed by the Office of Research and Development at the University of Maryland, Baltimore to a pharmacy software vendor, Pharmacy One Source, to enable its widespread availability. More information can be found at http://www.icudrips.org.

About Pharmacy OneSource:
Pharmacy OneSource is pharmacy's #1 documentation and formulary application service provider. More than 950 organizations in the U.S. utilize one or more of our HIPAA compliant suite of web-based, robust applications that easily addresses your challenges with: JCAHO medication management and USP 797 compliance, clinical documentation, financial performance, communications, formulary management, clinical decisions and improving patient safety. Our 30-member team supports your efforts and keeps you innovative. We also provide news, salary, job, and marketplace information to more than 45,000 pharmacy professionals at http://www.rph.com.

Contacts:
Keith Streckenbach, Executive Vice President, Business Development
Pharmacy OneSource: 800-654-8395 ext. 135 or 425-451-4063

Becky Ceraul, Senior Media Relations Specialist
University of Maryland School of Medicine: (410) 706-7590

Ellen Beth Levitt, Director of Public Affairs
University of Maryland Medical Center: (410) 328-8919