Pyxis Proximity Improves Narcotic Waste Compliance Among Anesthesia Personnel

Introduction Controlled substance waste processes in perioperative areas can be cumbersome. Streamlining this process is a critical component of improving operating room efficiency. At our institution, unused controlled substances require a two-person waste prior to disposal. We hypothesized that access to a centrally located automated medication dispensing system to conduct medication waste would decrease the amount of time required to perform a two-person waste and dispose of unused medications after the completion of a case. We further hypothesized that a decrease in the time required to waste would improve user satisfaction with the waste process. Methods This was a single-center, retrospective, IRB-approved quality assurance analysis. Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap, Stony Brook, NY, United States) software was used to design an anonymous survey, which was distributed via email from 06/09/2021 to 09/09/2021. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare before and after paired responses for individuals. Analyses were performed using SAS 9.4 © (Cary, NC, United States) software. Results Participants reported a significant decrease in time carrying used narcotics after a surgical case. For the primary outcome, median (IQR) scores demonstrated a significant decrease from 2, representing "10-20 minutes" (IQR 1-3), to 1, indicating "