Streamlining Medication Management for Boarding Schools With an eMAR Tool
Webinar Q&A recap with key experts Ruth Patten (Director of Client Development at Medicat), Ryan Seaberg (Founder and CEO of EiRSystems), and Danielle Shippey (Director of Health Services at The Hotchkiss School).
During the webinar, we covered the following key topics:
- What is Medicat’s new eMAR offering and how does it improve medication management workflow?
- How can boarding schools benefit from this specialized solution?
- What features make this eMAR system particularly suited for boarding schools?
- How does the system handle unique scenarios like field trips and school breaks?
- What integration capabilities exist between the eMAR and existing systems?
Q1: What is an eMAR and how can it help boarding school health centers?
Ruth: eMAR stands for Electronic Medication Administration Record. Students need timely access to their medications, and staff need reliable tools to track and administer them safely. And that’s where an eMAR comes in. Our partnership with EiRSystems brings a streamlined, education-focused eMAR solution into our EHR platform, built to support the unique needs of boarding school health teams.
Ryan: Our product’s goal is to give staff a clear view of who’s receiving what medication and when, helping schools run more efficiently and protect student health.
Q2: What are the standout features of this new eMAR system?
Ryan: Our eMAR system features a user-friendly dashboard with color-coded statuses:
- Orange for upcoming medications
- Green for administered medications
- Pink for refused medications
- Red for missed medications
When you log in, you’ll see a comprehensive overview of medication schedules with critical information including administration times, dosage amounts, and patient photos.
The system allows healthcare staff to schedule medications with customizable timing and frequency, view medications for specific timeframes, and receive alerts for missed medications.
Danielle: What’s been particularly valuable from my perspective at The Hotchkiss School, is the system’s adaptability to boarding school needs. The team has been incredibly receptive to feedback about our unique circumstances, where students aren’t always physically present for medication administration (e.g., off-campus weekends, field trips, sports travel).
Q3: How does the system handle inventory management?
Ryan: Our inventory tracking system is comprehensive. You can track both patient-specific and facility-specific medications with automatic updating of medication counts. The system alerts you when medication supplies run low and provides detailed reporting on usage.
When adding medications to inventory, you can document the source, whether it’s from parents, the student, or a doctor, which helps with accountability. The system also distinguishes between patient medications and facility stock, like Advil kept on hand for general use.
For each medication, we track initial stock, how much has been dispensed, and what remains. We’ll alert you when medications get below 30% of their original amount, so you can reorder before running out.
Q4: What makes this eMAR system particularly suited for boarding schools?
Danielle: In boarding schools, we have unique challenges that regular healthcare facilities don’t face. Students go on field trips, have weekend passes, go home for breaks, etc. Plus, our patients are minors! The ability to defer medications and track them properly is a game-changer.
Ryan: With the deferred medication management feature, healthcare staff can assign medications to students when they’re away from campus. You can defer medications for field trips, vacations, or breaks, generate dosing forms for off-campus administration, and track which medications have been deferred and for how long.
We worked closely with Hotchkiss School to refine this feature. For example, if a student is going on a 10-day field trip, you can defer their medications and print out dosing forms, all while maintaining proper inventory tracking!
Q5: How does the system handle security and compliance concerns?
Ryan: Security is built into every aspect of the system. We offer multi-factor authentication options and role-based access control, so you can customize what different staff members can see and do. We have a double count capability for controlled substances where two staff members can verify the count.
The system creates comprehensive audit trails, documenting who handled medications, when they were administered, and any inventory changes. This is crucial for compliance with regulations around medication management, especially for controlled substances.
Q6: How does this integrate with existing systems?
Ruth: The new eMAR system seamlessly integrates with the Medicat One EHR platform. Medications prescribed through Rcopia (our ePrescribing partner) automatically appear in the eMAR system, ready for scheduling and administration.
Ryan: We’ve worked very hard to ensure the integration is seamless. When a medication is prescribed in Medicat, it shows up in our eMAR system with a notification, so you can schedule it immediately. The integration works both ways—administration information flows back to the main Medicat record.
Q7: What reporting capabilities does the system offer?
Ryan: The reporting system provides valuable insights that help institutions improve their medication management processes. You’ll get overdue treatment event reports that show which medications were missed, by whom, and when. You can also access medication dispensing reports, patient stock reports, and custom reports based on your specific needs.
All reports can be exported or printed, and you can set up scheduled reports to be delivered automatically. This data helps identify trends, ensure compliance, and improve efficiency.
Q8: When will this new eMAR system be available in Medicat One?
Ruth: This new solution will be available beginning in summer 2025 as part of the Medicat One Medical platform rollout. We’re excited to bring this advanced solution to our boarding school clients.
Key Takeaways
Our new eMAR solution is designed to meet the unique challenges boarding school health teams face every day.
From tracking medications when students aren’t always on campus, to ensuring safe and timely administration across a 24/7 schedule, this system helps reduce stress, improve accuracy, and support better care for your students.
