Northern Health says new Pyxis machines have been installed at the Dawson Creek and District Hospital and Fort St. John Hospital, upgrading pharmacy services at the facilities. The previous machines were a decade old and reaching their end of life, and are subject to IT security risks and hardware failure.
Pyxis machines are automated medication dispensing cabinets that store medications for patients. The new machines are the Pyxis ES model.
"Staff, nurses, and medical staff will benefit from new features and more user-friendly software. The new machines are also now aligned with the rest of Northern Health’s Pyxis systems for consistency across facilities," wrote Northern Health in a press release.
Dawson Creek received four new machines in the emergency department, medical and surgical inpatient unit, and psychiatric unit, while Fort St. John received nine new machines in the emergency department, ambulatory care, neonatal intensive care unit, intensive care unit, medical and surgical inpatient unit, and maternity unit.
The cost to upgrade Dawson Creek was $355,000 and Fort St. John was $745,000, which included purchasing the equipment, installation, training, and minor renovations. New medical fridges were installed at both sites to accompany the new cabinets.
