Press Release: Compounding of Daily Antibiotic Doses Becomes Automated in Central Finland Central Hospital

Compounding of Daily Antibiotic Doses Becomes Automated in Central Finland Central Hospital NewIcon Oy from Kuopio will deliver an IV ICON robot that is unique in the world to the hospital pharmacy of the Central Finland Health Care District (KSSHP).

The robot is an innovation that entered the market last spring and enables the standardized mass compounding of intravenous antibiotic doses. The robot reduces the burden of work on staff, speeds up the compounding of antibiotic doses, and improves patient safety.

“Our pharmaceutical assistants compound approximately 46 000 doses of cefuroxime and 5 000 doses of piperacillin/tazobactam each year for wards, operating rooms, and intensive care units. The antibiotics are reconstituted by adding an injection fluid into vials containing dry powder. This is a highly strenuous task, especially on the wrists,” says Pharmacist Kirsi Juurinen.

In the future, the staff working in the cleanrooms of the hospital pharmacy will only assist the IV ICON robot, whose wrists will not tire of repetitive tasks.

“The robot also speeds up work and allows us to increase the range of antibiotics compounded in the hospital pharmacy. When we can reconstitute even more antibiotic doses so that they are ready to use, the nursing staff working on the wards have more time available for nursing,” says Juurinen.

In many other hospitals, nurses still compound antibiotic doses just before their use in the medicine rooms of wards. In KSSHP, the hospital pharmacy took over the task of compounding cefuroxime antibiotics already about ten years ago.

“Another problem is the microbial dust that the nursing staff is exposed to when reconstituting antibiotics. We do the work safely in the cleanrooms of the pharmacy, where the microbiological purity of the injection fluid can be guaranteed. This improves patient safety,” says Juurinen.

The IV ICON robot is unique in the world, because it compounds antibiotic doses as mass production. Similar foreign robots only prepare single doses. NewIcon Oy developed IV ICON in cooperation with the Kuopio University Hospital (KUH). The robot was installed there last spring.

“We have agreed to also develop IV ICON together with KSSHP so that it corresponds to their specific needs. Our product development team is currently working on an accessory for labelling, which would stick new labels on the side of reconstituted vials,” says Key Account Manager Jukka Mauranen from NewIcon Oy.

IV ICON will be installed in the hospital pharmacy of KSSHP in October and will be fully operational by the beginning of the year 2016. The robot will move to the new central hospital alongside other equipment and processes in 2020.

“We are also replacing a lot of other technology during the hospital project, so we wanted to acquire IV ICON well in advance before the move and thereby pace the implementation of new automation,” says Juurinen.