Fort St. John, Dawson Creek hospitals receive new Pyxis machines

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Fort St. John Hospital (FSJH) and Dawson Creek and District Hospital (DCDH) recently had new Pyxis machines installed. 

According to a release from Northern Health, the machines are an upgrade to hospital pharmacy services. 

Pyxis machines are automated medication dispensing cabinets that store a variety of medications. The machines were upgraded from Pyxis 4000 to Pyxis ES.

Purchased over ten years ago, the previous Pyxis machines had reached the end of their life and were subjected to IT security risks and irreparable hardware failure. 

Northern Health says staff, nurses and medical staff at the hospitals will benefit from the upgraded machines’ new features and user-friendly software. 

The new machines also align with the rest of Northern Health’s Pyxis systems, providing consistency across facilities. 

FSJH received nine new Pyxis machines in the emergency department, ambulatory care, neonatal intensive care unit, intensive care unit, medical and surgical inpatient unit, and maternity unit. 

DCDH received four machines in the emergency department, medical and surgical inpatient unit, and psychiatric unit. 

The cost of the upgrade at FSJH was $745,000 and $355,000 at DCDH. 

Costs include purchasing and installing the equipment, training staff to use the machines and minor renovations.

 Both hospitals received new medical fridges in addition to the new machines. 

The Pyxis machine upgrade project began in early January and was completed at the beginning of October.