Abbott MedNet(TM) Drug Library Software Sets New Industry Standard For Medication Management in Hospitals New Software First to Offer 'Best-Practice' Guideline Alerts for Both Hard and Soft Dose- and Rate-Setting Limits; Expands Functionality of Industry-Leading Medication Infusion System NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As part of Abbott Laboratories' comprehensive initiative to reduce medication errors and enhance patient safety in hospitals, the company today announced the launch of its Abbott MedNet(TM) drug library software at the American Society of Health- System Pharmacists (ASHP) Midyear Clinical Meeting. MedNet provides clinical decision rules designed to improve medication management at the hospital patient's bedside and may offer additional protection against intravenous (I.V.) medication errors. The software works in conjunction with the company's Plum A+(R), an I.V. drug-delivery medication management system, and allows hospitals to define dose limits for up to 1,200 medications. The software also alerts clinicians if they have programmed a medication dose outside a set of predetermined limits established by the hospital. Introduced in 2000, the Plum A+ infusion system is a modular and scalable infusion therapy system for electronic control of I.V. medication administration. Plum technology is currently used in more than 1,000 hospitals in the United States. MedNet is the only drug library software available that offers both "soft" and "hard" dose- and rate-setting limits for both primary and secondary infusion. Soft limits, which are currently the industry standard, allow clinicians to manually override dose limits if they require delivery of a larger or smaller dose than what is recommended by their hospital's best- practice guidelines. As an added safety feature, the MedNet drug library software also allows hospitals to set hard limits that staff cannot manually override. "MedNet is a key component of our initiative to help enhance medication management, as well as patient and health care worker safety in hospitals," said John Arnott, vice president, hospital business sector, Abbott Laboratories. "This innovative software will give hospital caregivers access to the hospital's drug reference library and corresponding dose guidelines at the patient bedside. As one of the leading suppliers of infusion therapy products to the U.S. hospital market, we will continue to expand our medication management systems, including new software products and drug- delivery devices." With the MedNet drug library software, hospital pharmacists, working in collaboration with clinicians, can develop and program dose recommendations for up to 1,200 I.V. infusion drugs and fluids into a database. Clinicians can also customize clinical decision rules for up to 12 different clinical areas of the hospital, such as the intensive care unit, emergency department and pediatrics. The database is then loaded into the Plum A+ device, which is used to deliver medication at the patient bedside. With the ability to capture and log all alarms and alerts generated from hospital caregiver programming outside of the recommended soft limits, MedNet will allow hospitals to identify trends in compliance with the hospital's dosing and clinical rules, as well as other quality assurance measures. If a hospital caregiver makes a device programming error, the system will provide a warning, signaling that the program is outside the recommended limits of the hospital's best practices and protocols. If the entry is outside of the hard limits, the system will prevent the hospital caregiver from programming the device. A 1999 Institute of Medicine report, "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System," said medical errors contribute to as many as 98,000 deaths in the United States each year -- including 7,000 attributed to medication errors. The report also noted that medication errors account for one out of every 131 outpatients deaths, and one out of every 854 inpatient deaths. "Our hospital is committed to continually enhancing the quality of care we provide to our patients," said James C. McAllister III, M.S., director of pharmacy, University of North Carolina (UNC) Hospitals and Clinics. "MedNet drug library software will begin to fulfill a need to provide improved checks at the patient bedside to help ensure that medications are delivered in accordance with the best practices established by our hospital." This March, the company also completed its initiative to affix unit-of-use bar codes to all of its hospital injectables and I.V. solutions product lines -- one of the most comprehensive efforts in the industry. In August 2003, Abbott Laboratories announced the creation of a new company comprised of its core global hospital products business. The new company will be a specialty pharmaceutical and medication delivery company and its business will include: medication delivery systems, such as medication management systems (including electronic pumps and the new MedNet drug library software); infusion therapy and critical care products; and specialty injectable pharmaceuticals, including generic acute-care injectables and intensive care pharmaceuticals. Once the new company is created, which is expected to be in the first half of 2004, it will have approximately 14,000 employees worldwide, will be headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., north of Chicago, and will be among the largest manufacturers of hospital products in the United States. Abbott Laboratories is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals, nutritionals, and medical products, including devices and diagnostics. The company employs more than 70,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries. In 2002, the company's sales were $17.7 billion. Abbott 's news releases and other information can be found on the company's Web site at http://www.abbott.com/ . DATASOURCE: Abbott Laboratories CONTACT: Media: Shannon Gore, +1-847-935-2528, or Tareta Adams, +1-847-938-4310; Financial Community: John Thomas, +1-847-938-2655, all of Abbott Laboratories Web site: http://www.abbott.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/110328.html

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