Sudbury pharmacy tech creates a better way to label prescriptions

Sudbury invention improves prescription safety A pharmacy technician in Sudbury and her husband have created Smarty Prints, which improves the safety and accuracy of drug prescriptions.

Avalon Lupini, who has been a pharmacy technician in Sudbury for 17 years, has come up with an innovative solution to a common problem.

Lupini, who works in the pharmacy at Health Sciences North, said they often have to write expiry labels on prescriptions by hand.

"It often leaks on to the expiry label, resulting in the pen smearing and it's no longer legible," she said.

"So I came up with the solution."

Lupini worked with her husband, Dean, a software developer with Key Logic Software Solutions in downtown Sudbury, to design and build a prototype for Smarty Prints, a smart printer designed specifically for pharmacies.

The printers are $3,995 each and the specially designed labels are $25 per roll.

"The interesting thing about Smarty Prints is, I think the overall design" Dean said.

"We took advantage of certain electronics which are available today, you know, like a nice touch screen, for example ... And the platform is actually capable of doing many things. We started with one problem, but we hope to expand to others."

They said it was important to them that the product received the 'Made in Canada' designation.

"It means that the majority of the manufacturing and the components come from Canada," Dean said.

"So the software was written here in downtown Sudbury and the manufacturing, as much as possible, is done in Canada."

Health Sciences North Pharmacy, where Avalon has worked for the last seven years, and its satellite OR pharmacy, have been using Smarty Prints since April 2023.

HSN officials said the system saves time and improves safety.

"We put out four million doses of meds a year out of this pharmacy for our use throughout the building," said Michelle Nogalo, director of pharmacy at Health Sciences North.

Real time saver

"It's been a tremendous time-saver for the staff. I don't really (think) we counted the number of hours, but I'm thinking it's got to be at least five hours a week of their time."

Nogalo said it has also improved safety.

"That hand-written product could fall off these things that come out of the freezer," she said.

"They put out a lot of moisture as they thaw and then the product, the sticker will smear, disintegrate or fall off. So when a nurse or physician picks up a product, they need to know this is … OK to use and so that’s really been helpful."

Lupini said Smarty Prints is in use at HSN and one pharmacy in Sudbury. And at least five hospitals in the north that have expressed an interest, as well as one in the west, another on the east coast of Canada and another in the U.S.