The Feasibility of Barcode-Based Dispensing Quality Assurance Programs

1984 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-78
Author(s):  
James A. Hokanson ◽  
Brock G. Guernsey ◽  
Stephen G. Bryant ◽  
William H. Doutré ◽  
Naomi B. Ingrim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Automated System ◽  
Quality Assurance Program ◽  
Outpatient Prescription ◽  
Drug Packaging ◽  
Prescription Item ◽  
National Drug ◽  
Prescription Form ◽  
On Line ◽  
Pharmacy Quality

A study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using barcodes in an outpatient pharmacy quality assurance program. In the first step of this study, adhesive labels containing a barcode representation of the National Drug Code (NDC) identification for the hospital's formulary medications were printed for each stock bottle or drug package used in dispensing. When an outpatient prescription was presented to the pharmacist, a label containing a barcode representation of the NDC identification for the prescribed medication was generated on-line and attached to the back of the prescription form. After the prescription item was filled by the pharmacist, an automated check was performed with a scanning wand by comparing the barcode on the prescription with the previously generated barcode on the stock bottle or drug packaging. A. match indicated that the correct medication had been dispensed. Elaborations on this basic automated system for a barcode-based dispensing quality assurance program are suggested.

Comparison of Interventions in Prehospital Care by Standing Orders Versus Interventions Ordered by Direct [On-line] Medical Command

1994 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 202-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. James Holliman ◽  
Richard C. Wuerz ◽  
Gaspar Vazquez-de Miguel ◽  
Steven A. Meador
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Cardiac Arrest ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Error Rate ◽  
Prehospital Care ◽  
Quality Assurance Program ◽  
Total Patient ◽  
On Line ◽  
Unchanged Form

AbstractObjective:The aim of this study was to compare the patient care measures provided by paramedics according to standing orders versus measures ordered by direct [on-line] medical command in order to determine the types and frequency of medical command orders.Design:Prospective identification of patient care measures done as part of a prehospital quality assurance program.Setting:An urban paramedic service in the northeast United States with direct medical command from three local hospitals.Participants:One thousand eight paramedic reports from October 1992 through March 1993.Interventions:All patient care interventions recorded as done by standing orders or by direct medical command orders. Errors in patient care were determined by the same criteria as in the prior two studies of the same system.Results:Direct medical command gave orders in 143/1,008 (14.2%) cases. Paramedics performed 2,453/2,624 (93.5%) of the total patient care interventions using standing orders. In 61 cases (6.1 %), medical command ordered a potentially beneficial intervention not specified by standing orders or not done by the paramedic. 21/171 (12.3%) command orders were for additional doses of epinephrine or atropine in cardiac arrest cases (where the initial doses had been given under standing orders), and 59/171 (34.5%) were for interventions already mandated or permitted by standing orders. The paramedic error rate was 0.6%, and the medical command error rate was 1.8% (unchanged form the prior study of the same standing-orders system).Conclusion:Direct medical command gave orders in 14% of cases in this standing-orders system, but 35% of command orders only reiterated the standing orders. More selective and reduced uses of on-line command could be done in this system with no change in the types or numbers of patient care interventions performed.

Geometrical accuracy of the Novalis stereotactic radiosurgery system for trigeminal neuralgia

2004 ◽  
Vol 101 (Supplement3) ◽  
pp. 351-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javad Rahimian ◽  
Joseph C. Chen ◽  
Ajay A. Rao ◽  
Michael R. Girvigian ◽  
Michael J. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Trigeminal Neuralgia ◽  
Image Fusion ◽  
Stereotactic Radiosurgery ◽  
Ct Images ◽  
Radiochromic Film ◽  
Quality Assurance Program ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Geometrical Accuracy ◽  
Fine Print

Object. Stringent geometrical accuracy and precision are required in the stereotactic radiosurgical treatment of patients. Accurate targeting is especially important when treating a patient in a single fraction of a very high radiation dose (90 Gy) to a small target such as that used in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia (3 to 4—mm diameter). The purpose of this study was to determine the inaccuracies in each step of the procedure including imaging, fusion, treatment planning, and finally the treatment. The authors implemented a detailed quality-assurance program. Methods. Overall geometrical accuracy of the Novalis stereotactic system was evaluated using a Radionics Geometric Phantom Chamber. The phantom has several magnetic resonance (MR) and computerized tomography (CT) imaging—friendly objects of various shapes and sizes. Axial 1-mm-thick MR and CT images of the phantom were acquired using a T1-weighted three-dimensional spoiled gradient recalled pulse sequence and the CT scanning protocols used clinically in patients. The absolute errors due to MR image distortion, CT scan resolution, and the image fusion inaccuracies were measured knowing the exact physical dimensions of the objects in the phantom. The isocentric accuracy of the Novalis gantry and the patient support system was measured using the Winston—Lutz test. Because inaccuracies are cumulative, to calculate the system's overall spatial accuracy, the root mean square (RMS) of all the errors was calculated. To validate the accuracy of the technique, a 1.5-mm-diameter spherical marker taped on top of a radiochromic film was fixed parallel to the x–z plane of the stereotactic coordinate system inside the phantom. The marker was defined as a target on the CT images, and seven noncoplanar circular arcs were used to treat the target on the film. The calculated system RMS value was then correlated with the position of the target and the highest density on the radiochromic film. The mean spatial errors due to image fusion and MR imaging were 0.41 ± 0.3 and 0.22 ± 0.1 mm, respectively. Gantry and couch isocentricities were 0.3 ± 0.1 and 0.6 ± 0.15 mm, respectively. The system overall RMS values were 0.9 and 0.6 mm with and without the couch errors included, respectively (isocenter variations due to couch rotation are microadjusted between couch positions). The positional verification of the marker was within 0.7 ± 0.1 mm of the highest optical density on the radiochromic film, correlating well with the system's overall RMS value. The overall mean system deviation was 0.32 ± 0.42 mm. Conclusions. The highest spatial errors were caused by image fusion and gantry rotation. A comprehensive quality-assurance program was developed for the authors' stereotactic radiosurgery program that includes medical imaging, linear accelerator mechanical isocentricity, and treatment delivery. For a successful treatment of trigeminal neuralgia with a 4-mm cone, the overall RMS value of equal to or less than 1 mm must be guaranteed.

scholarly journals 14C AMS at Suerc: Improving QA Data with the 5MV Tandem and 250KV SSAMS

Radiocarbon ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Naysmith ◽  
G T Cook ◽  
S P H T Freeman ◽  
E M Scott ◽  
R Anderson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Sample Preparation ◽  
Mass Spectrometer ◽  
Random Access ◽  
Capacity Measurement ◽  
Tandem Accelerator ◽  
Standard Data ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometer ◽  
On Line ◽  
Automated Data Acquisition

In 2003, a National Electrostatics Corporation (NEC) 5MV tandem accelerator mass spectrometer was installed at SUERC, providing the radiocarbon laboratory with 14C measurements to 4–5‰ repeatability. In 2007, a 250kV single-stage accelerator mass spectrometer (SSAMS) was added to provide additional 14C capability and is now the preferred system for 14C analysis. Changes to the technology and to our operations are evident in our copious quality assurance data: typically, we now use the 134-position MC-SNICS source, which is filled to capacity. Measurement of standards shows that spectrometer running without the complication of on-line δ13C evaluation is a good operational compromise. Currently, 3‰ 14C/13C measurements are routinely achieved for samples up to nearly 3 half-lives old by consistent sample preparation and an automated data acquisition algorithm with sample random access for measurement repeats. Background and known-age standard data are presented for the period 2003–2008 for the 5MV system and 2007–2008 for the SSAMS, to demonstrate the improvements in data quality.

scholarly journals Resource and dependency based test case generation for RESTful Web services

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Zhang ◽  
Bogdan Marculescu ◽  
Andrea Arcuri
Keyword(s):  
Web Services ◽  
Domain Knowledge ◽  
Automated System ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Evolutionary Search ◽  
Sampling Strategies ◽  
Mutation Operators ◽  
On Line ◽  
Restful Web Services

AbstractNowadays, RESTful web services are widely used for building enterprise applications. REST is not a protocol, but rather it defines a set of guidelines on how to design APIs to access and manipulate resources using HTTP over a network. In this paper, we propose an enhanced search-based method for automated system test generation for RESTful web services, by exploiting domain knowledge on the handling of HTTP resources. The proposed techniques use domain knowledge specific to RESTful web services and a set of effective templates to structure test actions (i.e., ordered sequences of HTTP calls) within an individual in the evolutionary search. The action templates are developed based on the semantics of HTTP methods and are used to manipulate the web services’ resources. In addition, we propose five novel sampling strategies with four sampling methods (i.e., resource-based sampling) for the test cases that can use one or more of these templates. The strategies are further supported with a set of new, specialized mutation operators (i.e., resource-based mutation) in the evolutionary search that take into account the use of these resources in the generated test cases. Moreover, we propose a novel dependency handling to detect possible dependencies among the resources in the tested applications. The resource-based sampling and mutations are then enhanced by exploiting the information of these detected dependencies. To evaluate our approach, we implemented it as an extension to the EvoMaster tool, and conducted an empirical study with two selected baselines on 7 open-source and 12 synthetic RESTful web services. Results show that our novel resource-based approach with dependency handling obtains a significant improvement in performance over the baselines, e.g., up to + 130.7% relative improvement (growing from + 27.9% to + 64.3%) on line coverage.

Automated sequencing batch bioreactor under extreme peaks of 4-chlorophenol

2003 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 175-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Buitrón ◽  
M.-E. Schoeb ◽  
J. Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Dissolved Oxygen ◽  
Metabolic Activity ◽  
Automated System ◽  
Stable Operation ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Batch Bioreactor ◽  
On Line ◽  
The Moment ◽  
And Control ◽  
System Operating

The operation of a sequencing batch bioreactor is evaluated when high concentration peaks of a toxic compound (4-chlorophenol, 4CP) are introduced into the reactor. A control strategy based on the dissolved oxygen concentration, measured on line, is utilized. To detect the end of the reaction period, the automated system search for the moment when the dissolved oxygen has passed by a minimum, as a consequence of the metabolic activity of the microorganisms and right after to a maximum due to the saturation of the water (similar to the self-cycling fermentation, SCF, strategy). The dissolved oxygen signal was sent to a personal computer via data acquisition and control using MATLAB and the SIMULINK package. The system operating under the automated strategy presented a stable operation when the acclimated microorganisms (to an initial concentration of 350 mg 4CP/L), were exposed to a punctual concentration peaks of 600 mg 4CP/L. The 4CP concentrations peaks superior or equals to 1,050 mg/L only disturbed the system from a short to a medium term (one month). The 1,400 mg/L peak caused a shutdown in the metabolic activity of the microorganisms that led to the reactor failure. The biomass acclimated with the SCF strategy can partially support the variations of the toxic influent since, at the moment in which the influent become inhibitory, there is a failure of the system.

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