subject: Helping Pharmacists Prevent Medication Cross-Contamination [print this page] Pharmacists consider medication cross-contamination is a major issue during the pill counting process. Pills can leave dust or residue on the pill counting unit causing safety concerns. To avoid such errors, the C-RAY Automatic Pill Counting Machine has optic sensors located at the bottom of the pill chute that can be easily cleaned to eliminate any possibility of contamination. Replacement trays are also available to prevent cross-contamination.
The danger of cross-contamination has been an important issue for years, according to research *By using a thin layer chromatography, phenoxymethyl penicillin, sulphadiazine, aspirin and paracetamol were identified as contaminants which were transferred by automatic counting machines. Quantitative analysis by densitometry indicated that as much as 9.75 mg of aspirin, the model contaminant used, could be transferred to 50 hard gelatin capsules following the counting of 100 aspirin 300-mg tablets. The transferred contaminants could pose serious threats, such as allergic reactions from drugs like penicillin and sulfides or even death due to contamination from chemotherapy drugs.
Knowing how powerful drugs are and that cross-contamination is a major issues for hospitals, pharmacies and consumers and that cross-contamination could be fatal. Deltatee Innovation addresses this issue aggressively during the design phase of the C-RAY Pill counting machine. They have designed the C-RAY Pill Counting Machine to be easily cleaned and additional replacement trays in order to circumvent pills contaminating other pills.
* Po, A. L. W., Morland, I. and Robins, L. (1977), CHEMICAL CROSS-CONTAMINATION IN THE PHARMACY. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 2:131135. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2710.1977.tb00083.x
