Atomlab Offers Speed, Efficiency, Storage and Control in Nuclear Pharmacies

August 4, 2011 – To improve patient health through safe and efficient use of radioactive materials during handling, diagnosis and therapy, many nuclear pharmacies use the Biodex Medical Systems’ Atomlab dose calibrator. Biodex spoke with Brett Whittacre, president of BioDose, Las Vegas, a provider of nuclear medicine management systems, about some of the objectives of a busy pharmacy and how the Atomlab’s new features can help hospitals and labs meet their goals.

The Atomlab has some recent enhancements, including quality assurance (QA) apps that bring individualized functions to the system; linearity decay and constancy measurements with an automated graphing feature; and increased storage capacity.

Software providers like BioDose have developed cost-effective programs to provide accurate solutions for computer isotope tracking needs. When working with radioactive materials, leading facilities turn to a system that is simple to operate, but can provide fast, accurate radionuclide activity measurements. So when it was time to look at technology to accomplish this, BioDose turned to Biodex for solutions.

BioDose provides software programs to nuclear pharmacists. One of the company’s software offerings is called the BioRx Pharmacy System. Atomlab Dose Calibrators are an integrated part of this system to communicate with BioDose as well as other widely recognized commercial nuclear medicine management systems.

In the early stages of development, Brett Whittacre worked on the communication protocols between software and hardware to ensure its reliability as a system able to perform under the most demanding conditions.

“The Atomlab and BioDose communication protocol provides increased efficiency and time savings with each dose. We saw substantial gains … This is so important to commercial nuclear pharmacies because over the course of a day, these savings really add up,” explained Whittacre.

With more and more nuclear medicine departments going electronic and turning to hot lab management in their pharmacies, hospitals and other nuclear facilities, interfacing with either the nuclear management information system (NMIS) or the BioRx software needed to be accomplished.

“This feature is found in all the Atomlab Dose Calibrators from Biodex. The Atomlab interfaces with all of our hot lab management and pharmacy solutions while storing records for inspectors. This is a real-time inventory system,” said Whittacre.

While BioDose’s software can communicate with dose calibrators, another important feature was having the dose calibrator transmit to a computer. There are only a few dose calibrators that can transmit to a computer; Biodex is one of them. Another time-saving feature is for the commercial laboratory.

Using NMIS or BioRx programs together provides optimal control over wipe test counting and constancy. The data is stored as reports in the management system’s software.

For more information: www.biodex.com/dosecalibrators