Cloud Solution for Modernizing Offline Drug Compounding Workflows
IQ helped our client develop a robust web solution that modernizes offline drug compounding workflows by moving them into a scalable, cloud-based environment.
Our client, a leading medical device company, set out to revolutionize drug auditing in hospital pharmacies. They envisioned a next-generation platform that could streamline the drug preparation and verification process, reduce prescription turnaround time, and improve patient safety through automation and traceability.
The new platform needed to interface with hospital pharmaceutical systems to receive prescription orders (via HL7), match them with known drug assembly protocols, and guide pharmacy staff through step-by-step preparation on their proprietary drug compounding workflow machines.
We built a robust web platform powered by a suite of microservices, each focused on a specific domain: incoming prescriptions, drug component data, user management, workflow machine communication, and more.
These services were deployed to a Kubernetes cluster, allowing each hospital to scale the system based on local demand. Deployments could be done on hospital servers or within a private cloud environment—providing flexibility and security.
HL7 Integration with Hospitals
Hardware Integration
with scanners and cameras
Scalable Cloud
Base System
Kubernetes Cluster
Deployment
The React/Redux frontend (built with JavaScript and TypeScript) provided pharmacy staff and reviewers with intuitive, real-time views of prescriptions, protocols, verification steps, and audit results. Each prescription could be matched to a known protocol and verified with photo and data evidence sourced directly from the drug compounding workflow machines.
We extended our work beyond the web platform to include development and optimization of software running on the workflow machines and IV compounding robots themselves. Communication between systems was enabled through RabbitMQ messaging, with a centralized API gateway managing secure data ingress and egress.
Results & Impacts
- Each drug compounding process on the workflow machines is now fully auditable, with detailed image and data capture at every step, providing complete transparency and traceability.
- Improved workflow efficiency by matching prescriptions with pre-assembled drugs when applicable, enabling faster dispensing.
- Improved scalability and security as the final platform can be deployed either on-premise or in a secure private cloud environment, while adhering to strict data privacy requirements of healthcare environments.