Share thisIn today’s challenging regulatory environment, it is becoming increasingly difficult for animal laboratory research facilities to cost-effectively address safety and compliance issues, while maintaining the integrity of their experiments or research studies. With this in mind, a growing number of facilities are beginning to turn to point-of-use (POU) automation solutions to address and improve safety, quality, and compliance.
Ensuring Safety
POU systems greatly aid lab personnel to administer the right medications, in the right dosage, at the right time, thereby improving animal safety. This is possible through the single-item dispensing capabilities that some POU systems offer. Several solutions providers offer a variety of single-item dispensing options within the same system, allowing maximum flexibility to accommodate various items of different shapes and sizes. Moreover, the ability of POU systems to restrict access better ensures that controlled substances and other supplies are not tampered with prior to being administered.
In addition to the ability to control access to such systems and dispense one item at a time, some systems can even be programmed to restrict access to certain items by user. Beyond this, some systems can also be programmed to issue more than one item in cases where multiple items are needed for the same experiment. For instance, if a study calls for a dosage of two units of a particular medication, the system can automatically dispense both units from the same drawer or compartment. Once the user removes the items and finishes the transaction, a record of it is time and date-stamped, and transmitted to a consolidated database. From this database, system administrators can generate reports, including reports needed for regulatory filings. POU systems vary, but some have the ability to track by user, experiment type/number, budget code, etc. All transactions are time and date-stamped in real time, thereby allowing up-to-the-minute access to inventory levels, user transactions, and other important data.
Some systems allow users to set up min/max levels. Once an item is decremented to a pre-established par level, the system can be configured to automatically reorder critical items to ensure that they are available when needed.
A Case Study
Earlier this year, a large research facility temporarily lost track of over a half-dozen ampules. Although the POU system that they had been using was a vast improvement over their prior manual (lock and key) system, this facility?s needs required a higher level of control due to increased use of class II drugs with abuse potential.