Every day at work, Shiv Mao’s wrists hurt as he twisted lid after bottle of methadone.
As patients came in, she sat behind the window, chatting and watching them as she weighed doses into bottles, printed and applied labels, heat-sealed, and did her own thing. focused on reconfirming
I am currently a registered nurse. comp dragspends more time talking to the patients he sees almost every day at the Northside’s opioid treatment program. Her wrists no longer hurt and she can be out of her chair all day, but it was even more difficult before the new machine arrived on site in June.
“I didn’t even know this existed,” Mao said of Opio. Jin Robot, She now sits behind her at the comp drug nurses station. “I love it.”
The refrigerator-sized machine assembles methadone doses for patients being treated for opioid use disorders and is dispensed by nurses like Mao Zedong.
“It allows us to interact with patients,” Mao said. “Human error is reduced.”
From a chair by the window, Mao uses software to order the required doses (up to 54 doses, depending on the patient and treatment plan), pump methadone into bottles, cap the bottles, and label them. can be done. As the bottles pop out of the machine onto the tray, she uses her wand to heat seal the caps with foil. This step may soon take place within Zing as well. Then double check and distribute.
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make history
CompDrug is the first program of its kind to test new machines as part of a beta test by a Montana-based therapeutic technology company. Opio. You can assemble more than 1,000 times per day.
“We came out of the shadows through comp drugs,” said Mike Pokorney, co-founder and vice president of engineering at Opio.
The partnership kicked off at an industry conference in November when CompDrug CEO Dustin Mets met the Opio team and learned about the machine. At the time, the Mets remember feeling bad that he and his team dominated the Opio era.
But Pokorny said the Mets’ adamant stance that Zing was the best choice for comp drugs ultimately made the partnership happen.
After the Opio team visited CompDrug in January, they realized it was the perfect place for their first Zing machine, Pokorny said.
“It’s a cohesive force,” he said of the CompDrug team and the culture where all voices are heard. “It’s warm.”
“Pressure testing” Zing in a real-life environment will allow Opio’s team to refine the product for other clinics in the country, Pokorny said.
Five other opioid treatment programs, from Baltimore to San Diego, are planned to soon get machines manufactured in Wisconsin.
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“Support nurses to be nurses”
Taunya Tucker, Head of Nursing at Comp Drugs, said the machine has reduced the number of nurses needed to greet patients at the counter each day, saying that the machine has allowed more nurses to attend to patients. I hope that I will be able to lead a health education group.
Given the current nurse shortage, this is an important change.
about 94% Survey of Registered Nurses A 2023 survey of more than 18,000 nurses said there was a “severe or moderate nurse shortage” in the area. AMN Healthcare, A medical staffing agency.
And they only expect the situation to get worse.
Pokorny said Opio’s mission is to bring opioid treatment programs to small communities, and the company hopes Zin can help make that happen.
“There are patients in almost every community in the country,” he said, but costs and nurse shortages are preventing treatment programs from reaching everywhere. “This is the first stepping stone.”
Opio was founded in January 2021 by Pokorny and Amber Norbeck, who realized that there were areas in Montana where it was difficult to expand the program’s services. With only four programs statewide, taking medication is a burden on patients, and Opio wants to change that.
“You need technology to make it happen,” Pokorny says. “This machine adds flexibility and different workflows.”
Nurses in the AMN survey also reported high levels of stress, with 4 out of 5 saying they were either very stressed or very stressed. In the 2023 survey, more nurses than in the 2021 survey said they were mentally exhausted, worried that their work might affect their health.
Metz said nurses can’t mistake methadone administration for labeling, but it’s difficult because they also have to pay close attention to the patient behind the window. Both are life and death, he said.
“Having to switch between the two all the time is stressful,” Metz said.
Metz said stigma about addiction has prevented major innovations in the field of opioid treatment.
In short, Zing is “revolutionary”.
“I highly recommend introducing gin[into other opioid treatment programs]to help the workforce and increase patient satisfaction,” he said. “To support nurses to be nurses.”
@DanaeKing
