Swisslog Healthcare Supports Correctional Health Care Advancement Through Donation to National Commission on Correctional Health Care Foundation

Broomfield, Colo. (April 26, 2021) – Swisslog Healthcare is pleased to announce today that they have made a gift to the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) Foundation, making Swisslog Healthcare a Bronze Partner in the foundation’s Partners in Correctional Health Annual Giving Society. The NCCHC Foundation's mission is to champion the correctional health care field and serve the public by supporting research, professional education, scholarships and patient reentry into the community. Swisslog Healthcare is committed to lead change for better care, transforming medication management for correctional facilities and pharmacies, by delivering an automated medication packaging and dispensing technology that saves valuable employee time and ensures accuracy in medication administration.

“We are deeply grateful to Swisslog Healthcare for their partnership. Their trust in the NCCHC Foundation helps demonstrate the importance of corporate leadership and supports our mission,” said Jennifer Riskind, Director, NCCHC Foundation.

“As a market leader in Corrections pharmacy automation technology solutions, Swisslog Healthcare is excited to partner with the NCCHC Foundation to support their mission to champion the correctional health care field as it aligns with our mission to lead change for better care,” says Mike Carmody, Vice President of Long-Term Care at Swisslog Healthcare. “It is important to us to support health care development for correctional facilities and ensure effective population health management.”

Over the last year, correctional facility clinicians not only provided typical healthcare and medication needs for inmate patients, but also were challenged with learning how to provide care in a pandemic and treat numerous inmates infected with COVID-19. Meeting the medication needs of inmate populations has become increasingly more challenging, especially since most correctional facilities are facing inadequate staffing levels.

For nurses, the corrections environment demands a high level of flexibility and efficiency as they move between performing intake exams, performing medication calls and dealing with emergency situations such as serious injuries or psychological trauma. Furthermore, the nationwide nursing shortage means fewer nurses must cover more ground with less time. Some nurses are required to do mandatory overtime due to not enough staff to meet the facility's needs. This contributes negatively to retention and employee health. Additionally, as the COVID-19 cases rise some facilities are using nurses to perform law enforcement duties due to existing correctional officer staffing shortages, which furthers issues of nursing staff leaving. One study on nurse retention in a correctional facility detailed that, after a period of three years, only 20% of nursing staff remained employed.

To minimize the impact of these challenges, correctional facilities are streamlining medication management processes by using automation technology to package and dispense medications on demand. In-facility medication packaging and dispensing systems can help by eliminating time consuming, tedious processes for correctional nursing personnel and freeing up more time for higher value tasks. This enables better adherence to recommended therapies, ultimately leading to a healthier population.

Through in-facility packaging, medications are organized into labeled, individual pouches for each inmate by their location. This not only increases medication accuracy but significantly speeds up the medication administration process, providing a smoother, more organized medication call line. One Swisslog Healthcare customer reported it previously took 4 nurses, in one facility, 3 hours each to set up their medications and then pass their medications. Now, with the medication packager, they can deliver medications for their entire facility in less than 30 minutes.

“In the past, health care technology adoption has been gradual for correctional facilities,” says Mike Carmody. “However, today, the challenge of staffing issues is contributing to facilities changing their mindset and expediently searching for medication management automation solutions to ensure accuracy and efficiency.”

A leading provider of in-facility packaging and dispensing systems, Swisslog Healthcare offers medication automation solutions to correctional facilities enabling them to simplify medication administration, provide down-to-the-dose accountability, reduce waste and decrease avoidable drug spend. Swisslog Healthcare’s InSite® In-Facility Medication Packaging and Dispensing System transforms the process of medication dispensing from a tedious, error prone set of tasks to an efficient, automated workflow.

Correctional professionals can see a demonstration of the InSite System in the Swisslog Healthcare virtual booth at the Spring National Commission on Correctional Health Care Conference on April 27 - 28.

For more information on Swisslog Healthcare or packaging and dispensing automation, visit swisslog-healthcare.com/corrections.

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About Swisslog Healthcare
Swisslog Healthcare is a leading supplier of solutions and services for medication management, combining both transport and pharmacy automation. Swisslog Healthcare has installed facility-wide transport and pharmacy automation systems in more than 3,000 healthcare institutions worldwide. The company offers integrated solutions from a single source – from consulting to design, implementation to lifetime customer service. For more information, visit www.swisslog-healthcare.com.

Swisslog Healthcare is a member of the KUKA Group, a leading global supplier of intelligent automation solutions.