C R Y D E R P O I N T 14 MAY New York Hospital Queens’ newly installed $1.5 million robot to introduce more el ectronic medical recording BY LIAM LA GUERRE To keep up with the health industry’s shift to electronic medical records, the New York Hospital Queens’ (NYHQ) pharmacy department is turning to a robot. The pharmacy department moved in February to the basement level of the institution on Main Street and Booth Memorial Avenue to make room for the enormous, new $1.5 million tablet-dispensing robot, called a Pill Picker. The new department doubled in size to 4,500 square feet and was built around the glassy machine, which stores and distributes medicine, and by June will be utilized to keep track of patient drug usage through a barcoding system. “At least 10 percent of our patients will be barcoded at the bedside by the end of June,” said Alex Melchert, director of pharmacy at NYHQ. “What this technology gives us, once we implement the barcode aspects of it, is for example it will allow us to look at how many times a potential near miss has occurred. And then use that information to improve the work flow.” The Pill Picker cuts down on time and human error in preparing the 14 cryder point courier | MAY 2014 | WWW.QUEENSCOURIER.COM drugs, because in the past, pharmacy technicians would have to manually check and separate thousands of pills for numerous patients a day and use a paper system to verify the drugs. Now technicians scan and load drugs into secure containers, which are checked by pharmacists and then inserted into the robot. The pill picker separates the tablets into a nest of small bags that contain one pill each. The robot can hold about 56,000 bags of drugs. The machine scans barcodes on the small bags to identify errors, and scans the bags for damage. The robot also tracks the loaded drugs and knows the right drugs to dispense for each patient. It also knows when the department is low on specific drugs and needs to order more. In June, when distributing drugs to patients, nurses will scan the barcodes on the small bags, the ID wristbands of the patients at their bedside and their own IDs, and the information will be submitted electronically. “This is the future of our profession,” Melchert said. “There is no doubt in my mind that from a safety perspective we are at the forefront of medication management in hospitals.” BY LIAM LA GUERRE The new Utopia Barbershop in Whitestone is a special place. The shop at 20-06 Utopia Parkway is split in two. The left side looks like a typical barbershop, but the right side looks like a mini-Toys“R”Us, replete with bright colors, murals of cartoon characters and video game consoles. That part of the shop is designed to make it easier to cut the hair of special needs children, such as kids with autism, who usually fuss while getting trimmed, owner Radik “Ray” Khaimov said. With specially trained barbers and calming features, he hopes his barbershop will become a utopia where parents can take their kids without any worries. “When they look around, they’ll feel like it’s a friendly place,” Khaimov said. “Barbershops should be a friendly place. When they walk in, they have to feel at home.” Khaimov, a Russian immigrant, comes from a family of barbers. His grandfather, father and uncle were all barbers in Russia, and his older brothers are continuing the family trade in New York City as well. A 15-year hair cutting veteran, Khaimov wanted to do something different when he decided to open his own shop, because “all barbershops are the same,” he said. His wife, who teaches special needs children, advised him about cutting their hair, and he expanded on the idea for his shop. There is an airplane and black cab barber chair for kids. Cables, scissors and other equipment are hidden, and customized clippers make almost no sound. The lights are dimmed on the right side, because Khaimov said it could bother the children’s eyes. And while the kids wait for their haircuts, there are Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 video games and an arcade system that they can play for free. Soon, Khaimov said, iPads will be added for children to watch movies and surf the Internet as well. Khaimov said three of his six licensed barbers are trained to work with special needs kids and the others are learning. During the cuts, these barbers try to calm down the children by conversing with them, singing songs or counting. Also, the barbers work fast. Haircuts last just seven to 15 minutes so the kids don’t get upset. “The point is to let them feel comfortable, and let them feel we are friends,” barber Meny Yoshevayev said. “I love to do it, because I feel that I’m helping parents who don’t know where to go. It makes my day.” THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre The newly installed $1.5 million tablet-dispensing robot will lead NYHQ to further electronically recording patients drug use. A barber who focuses on cuts for special needs kids THE COURIER/Photo by Liam La Guerre Radik “Ray” Khaimov’s new Utopia Barbershop is designed to cut hair for children with special needs.
CP052014
To see the actual publication please follow the link above