It took six to 12 months of ironing out the problems before reaping the full benefits of the system, says Toni Surko, the home’s administrator.

“We had to work out the bugs in the system,” says Toni. “There was a state of flux for a while until we figured things out.”

Toni says the communication process with Medical Pharmacy in Ottawa had to be attended to, to ensure things like delivery dates were not negatively impacting on the long-term care home’s ability to do its job effectively. “Our med errors went up in the first year, but then went down once the system was firmly in place,” says Toni.

She says the home also had to contend with the fact that Medical Pharmacy had many new staff members, contributing to packaging errors, and Almonte had new staff members at the time, too.

“But now, my staff have told me bluntly that they will not go back to the old system. They saw the benefits in the system and worked hard to make sure they came out,” says Toni.

A long-time registered practical nurse (RPN) at Almonte backs this up. Colleen Bellefeuille – who has been with the home for 18 years and an RPN for 30 – says it is “wonderful.”

“It takes less time to do,” she says.

Colleen says she has seen a lot of changes in the way drugs are administered over the years. The earliest system she used was dispensing drugs from bottles. Then came the cards on bins system and finally the cards on a spindle system.

“Anyone hates change. You get comfortable with a system and you just have to get used to it. It’s so easy and the new med carts have a great design,” explains Colleen.

She says the med carts hold an entire week’s supply of medication, including places for puffers and eye-drops in convenient sections.

“I would hate to go back now,” says Colleen.