Handing out and taking the wrong medication is a thing of the past thanks to IRIS from high-tech company ZIUZ. The compact machine automatically checks bags of tablets and capsules for correctness. Hospital nurses no longer have to sort medications or pay attention to the correct combinations. The process of making and dispensing medication is completely digitally controlled. Hospital pharmacist Dick Bloemhof of Nij Smellinge in Drachten co-developed IRIS and is enthusiastic. ’’Now we are even better able to give patients their medication quickly, reliably and at the right time''.
It is only recently that pharmacy assistants spent a lot of time every day picking, combining and correctly packaging pills. IRIS is one such development that hospital pharmacist Dick Bloemhof is very excited about. Indeed, he helped develop it for Gorredijk-based high-tech company ZIUZ. ,,Thanks to IRIS, our attention shifts from sorting medicines and filling boxes to advice and quality control. That is exactly what our profession should be about.’’
IRIS
IRIS is a compact device with highly reliable modern technology for checking the contents of medicine pouches quickly and safely. A medicine pouch issued by IRIS contains exactly the right medication and amount a patient needs to take at a given time. Meanwhile, Bert Garlich, Businessline Manager Medical at ZiuZ in Gorredijk, knows from experience that hospitals with many different and changing medications daily have great advantages in convenience and safety with medicine pouches. ,,But before dispensing, the pouches must of course be strictly checked for the correct contents. IRIS helps the pharmacist here by automatically performing this checking process with a highly sensitive and accurate camera. A photo of each bag is also stored for later reference. Pharmacists thus fully comply with the increasingly strict guidelines.’’
Large institution pharmacies and pharmacy chains have been using this technology for some time and use IRIS’ big brother Photon which can handle large volumes of drugs and at higher speeds. IRIS was developed specifically for smaller pharmacies and dispensing physicians. Garlich: ,,The same reliable control quality as Photon, but in a very compact machine and with an interesting price tag’’. Bloemhof, who has now been working with IRIS for 6 months, agrees. ’’IRIS is value for money. Price and performance is great, the device is really cheap. This is a product that is suitable to be delivered with any drug packaging machine.''
IRIS has been extensively tested at two pharmacies, including Nij Smellinge's hospital pharmacy, in recent months. After the summer, IRIS will go into production. ZiuZ hopes to help even more pharmacists around the world with IRIS. Garlich: ,,Not just to make their medication dispensing safer, but mainly to contribute to more efficient and effective medication intake by patients.’’
Press presentation
IRIS was presented to the (trade) press and the medical world on Thursday 14 July 2016. Together with production partner Variass Medical Systems, ZiuZ will ensure sufficient availability of the new machine immediately after the summer.