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Pharmacy IT
Quebec hospitals implement
drug-interaction system
 MONTREAL –
Hospitals and healthcare facilities in the Lower St. Lawrence, Gaspé
Peninsula/Magdalen Islands and Outaouais regions have invested $2
million to implement the advanced SyPhaC pharmaceutical management
system, which uses IBM technology and services.
SyPhaC enhances the quality of patient care by facilitating the
provision of pharmaceutical care, through the integration and automation
of services offered by hospital pharmacies.
Demands on Quebec hospitals are rising steadily while resources are
limited. In the past, when validating prescriptions, hospital
pharmacists had to manually check the information in patient files to
ensure there was no risk of hazardous drug interactions. The SyPhaC
system increases efficiency and decreases the risk of human error by
creating personalized pharmacological profiles, automating
verifications, and immediately alerting the pharmacist in the event of
potential drug interactions or possible allergies.
The SyPhaC system was developed by Artefact Informatique, a division of
LGS Group Inc., an IBM company specializing in the implementation of
clinical solutions. It is sufficiently flexible to integrate the
specialized needs and parameters of each hospital pharmacy department
while maintaining rigorous standards. Whether the patient is in
intensive care, the delivery room or awaiting chemotherapy, pharmacists
are able to work quickly to ensure treatment is administered safely,
effectively and efficiently.
“SyPhaC enables us to better integrate our processes and to pool
important information about our patients with total security,”
explained, François Paradis, Head of the Pharmacy Department at the
Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Rimouski-Neigette, in the
Lower St. Lawrence region. With the system, our pharmacists have direct
access to patients’ laboratory results, facilitating better decisions to
optimize their drug therapy.”
The system can also interact with automated pharmacy equipment, making
it possible to package medications in individual bar-coded packets that
will be delivered to the appropriate care unit, thereby reducing the
risk of errors associated with drug administration.
Initially, SyPhaC was installed in a number of hospitals in the Lower
St. Lawrence, Gaspé Peninsula/Magdalen Islands and Outaouais regions at
the beginning of 2007. In January 2008, twenty-five Quebec hospitals –
including the Montréal Heart Institute and the Centre hospitalier
universitaire de Québec (CHUQ) – were using SyPhaC to manage medication
use.
The system helps healthcare facilities across Quebec comply with the
standards and regulations set by the Canadian Council on Health Services
Accreditation, an independent non-profit organization devoted to
improving patient care in Canada. As hospital needs evolve, SyPhaC can
be adapted to new clinical processes and may one day exchange data with
institutions across the country. This will follow in step with measures
implemented by the federal government under its shareable electronic
health record strategy.
About IBM
To find out more about IBM, visit
www.ibm.com.
About Artefact Informatique
To find out more about Artefact Informatique, the health division of LGS
Group Inc., visit www.lgs.com.
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