cato® – The Software for Oncologic Therapy Planning, Therapy Monitoring And the Preparation of Cytotoxics
Safety and quality requirements with prescription, preparation and administration of cytotoxic drugs and other individual therapeutic agents represent a challenge for all involved persons. The cato® software package offers a comprehensive overall solution: cato’s modules help connect physicians, pharmacists and the nursing staff.
While physicians usually use cato®’s ward module for therapy planning (based on flexible regimens) and can request medications online from the pharmacy, cato®‘s pharmacy module supports pharmacists and pharmaco-technical assistants with validation and preparation. Also, the nursing staff’s workflow is supported by cato® during administration.
Special emphasis shall be put on cato®’s gravimetric preparation module which is unparalleled at safety and speed. By the way, cato® has been in the market since 1999 and in use by more than 160 renowned hospitals and pharmacies in Europe. Approximately 2 million cytotoxic preparations per year are meanwhile effected with cato®! Currently, the following language versions are available: German, English, French, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Italian, Slovenian and Estonian. Further language versions are already in preparation.
These are the crucial functions of cato®:
Therapy planning, prescription and online request of cytotoxic medications and other individual therapeutic agents.
The gravimetric preparation of cytotoxics (by means of an electronic balance) offers unparalleled safety at unrivalled speed.
Traditional volumetric preparation (without balance) is also supported. The pharmacist receives automatically generated parts lists and preparation instructions.
Cato® provides support with the calculation of doses (based on any formula and calculation basis), dose limits (e.g. with regimen-dependent dose limit rules) and dose monitoring (including cumulative doses).
The overall workflow – from prescription through preparation to administration - can be monitored and documented with cato®.
Numerous comprehensive interfaces are available for integration in the hospital’s own information system (e.g. via HL7 or XML).