Kristie McNealy, MD

Neoteric Technology was recently awarded the 2008 MS-HUG Healthcare Innovation Award from Microsoft, for its LacTrack Mother’s Milk Management system. LacTrack is a series of products which can be integrated together to track milk from when it is pumped or donated, through storage, processing, feeding preparation and delivery to the bedside. The system can be used whole or in parts, depending on the needs of the individual nursery or milk bank and includes 6 components.

LacTrack Donor Track enables tracking of milk donors and their milk. LacTrack Manager monitors the movement of milk from one area to another. LacTrack Preparation verifies the preparation of milk, formula and additives through the use of barcodes, and LacTrack Courier tracks the movement of milk in and out of the refrigerator. Finally, LacTrack SafeLx determines that the right milk products are delivered to your baby using a handheld device and barcode system at the bedside.

The LacTrack SafeLx system is in use at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Toronto, where it has reduced milk preparation time from 20 to 15 minutes and has prevented at least 20 milk feeding errors. Our own NICU lost my milk twice (and by lost, I mean someone stuck it in a different refrigerator, and no one could be bothered to try and find it), resulting in our milk-allergic daughter receiving a feeding of cow milk derived formula.  A tracking system like this could have easily prevented this dangerous error from occurring.  Considering the inherent dangers in medication and feeding delivery errors, I believe a comprehensive package like this should be required for medication as well as milk tracking in all NICUs.

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