What people complain about in Pyxis
12 reported problems name Pyxis as what the person is currently using. Below is what they said was missing, and what they resorted to instead.
- Complaints
- 12
- Avg severity
- 3.8/5
- Would pay to fix
- 2
- Industries
- 2
What they wish it did
Capabilities people described needing that Pyxis does not give them, taken from the highest-scoring problems first. These are individual accounts written in each person’s own terms, so two entries may describe the same underlying gap in different words.
- Software that automatically detects and alerts when a medication is removed from Pyxis but not documented as given, and provides a follow-up checklist for missed doses
- Offline electronic charting tool with automatic sync once systems are restored
- Remote fetal heart rate monitoring display accessible from nurses' station
- Alternative timekeeping system with manual entry and payroll integration
- Medication administration system with barcode scanning and override documentation
- Mobile backup system for narcotics documentation during EHR outages
- Automatic reconciliation tool between manual documentation and primary systems
- Real-time compliance monitoring during equipment failures
- Automated medication counting and reconciliation at the bedside
- Alerts for expected remaining pills in dispensing drawer after pickup
- Workload management system to prevent nurse overwhelm and rushed medication passes
- Automatic conversion of pack counts to individual vial counts
- Guided discrepancy resolution with undo and correction tracking
- Medication administration system should alert when the total dose from multiple vials exceeds the ordered amount
- Barcode scanning should require successful scan confirmation for each vial before proceeding
- Real-time location tracking of medication doses from dispensing machine to patient
- Bedside verification system integrated with EHR and automated dispensing cabinets
- Analytics platform to detect diversion patterns and compliance issues
- Medication management system that automatically integrates patient refusal events with dispensing documentation
- Automated compliance tracking that eliminates manual waste entry requirements
- Automated inventory monitoring and replenishment alerts for wound care supplies
- A digital waste-logging module within ADC systems that supports partial IV bag disposal with witness verification
- A mobile documentation tool that captures waste quantity, method, and witness signatures and syncs to the pharmacy system
- A mobile app that displays task schedules and medication locations in real-time
- A feature to instantly show PRN medication details and frequency without navigating through the EHR
What they do instead
The manual processes people built around the gap. A long workaround list is the strongest evidence a problem is real: someone is already paying for it in time. Where several people described the same workaround, it is marked.
- Paper charting
- Nurses sit in patients' rooms for 12 hours listening to FHR and staring at patients
- Using same paycheck as last week due to timekeeping system down
- Overriding meds in Pyxis willy-nilly without electronic verification
- manually overriding narcotics documentation during system downtime
- using downtime sheets (when available) for manual documentation
- bypassing key safety checks for efficiency
- Manually scanning each pill individually with a barcode scanner
- Relying on memory and pocket checks to ensure no pills are missed
- Counting pills by hand in a busy environment with 13 patients
- Counted vials as packs of 10 instead of 5
- Entered multiple discrepancies trying to fix previous one
- manually documenting medication waste in system when patient refuses
- runs to other units to find mepilex/CHG dressing/socks
- Documents wasted amount on paper with signatures instead of in the Pyxis system
- Lets the remaining medication physically drip into a waste bin to measure waste volume
- Uses an extra paper brain sheet to write down tasks and medication locations instead of checking Epic
- Writes '3 Pyxis, 1 Bin' in time slots to remember where medications are stored
- Writes PRN medication name, dose, and frequency on the right side of the paper column for quick reference
- Manually fixing counts in Pyxis machines
Industries
The problems themselves
Highest opportunity score first.
A new grad nurse made a medication error and a diet reporting error due to being overwhelmed with high patient load, and now faces a Board of Nursing investigation with no support, retraining, or clear communication.
5CriticalHealth, Wellness, and BeautyPatient Safety ManagementNurseSafe SentinelHospital systems are down after a cyberattack, forcing staff to use paper charting and manual monitoring, creating significant patient safety risks and documentation burdens.
5CriticalHealthcareSoftware Reliability & PerformanceDowntime Charting & Continuity SuiteNurses face serious professional and legal risks when forced to manually override narcotics documentation during system downtimes or equipment failures.
5CriticalHealth, Wellness, and BeautyCompliance ManagementNarcSafe Downtime DocumentationA nurse in a busy ED made a second narcotic medication error due to overwhelming workload and manual double-checking, causing fear of termination and legal consequences.
4HighHealthcarePatient Safety ManagementNarcSafe GuardA nurse accidentally miscounts morphine vials and mishandles the discrepancy correction, leading to fear of disciplinary action and a drug test.
4HighHealthcareMedication ManagementNarcCount ProA nurse administered double the ordered dose of IV morphine due to confusion about vial dosage and lack of a barcode scanning alert for the second vial.
4HighHealthcarePatient Safety ManagementSafeDose ScanGuardHospitals have no verification that narcotics removed from dispensing machines actually reach the patient, leading to potential diversion and accountability gaps.
4HighHealthcarePatient Safety ManagementDoseGuard Chain-of-CustodyMedication management systems don't automatically flag when patients refuse medication, requiring manual waste documentation that can be forgotten, leading to system flags and administrative headaches.
3MediumHealth, Wellness, and BeautyCompliance ManagementMediTrack Compliance SuiteNurses waste time walking to other units because the Pyxis medication dispensing system is not restocked with necessary wound care supplies.
3MediumHealth, Wellness, and BeautyInventory ManagementSupplySnap Inventory ReplenisherA nurse is unsure of the correct policy for wasting partially used narcotic IV bags and finds the current process inconsistent between paper documentation and the Pyxis system, risking compliance errors, diversion, and inefficiency.
3MediumHealthcareMedication ManagementMedWaste FlowA new graduate nurse on a med-surg/tele unit struggles to quickly access medication information and task schedules, resorting to a manual paper 'brain sheet' to supplement the EHR.
3MediumHealthcareClinical ManagementNurseDashHospital supply restocking staff struggles with inaccurate inventory counts in Pyxis machines and has to manually fix counts and rearrange bins to make items fit.
3MediumHealthcareInventory ManagementStockSense AI
Read this fairly
These are complaints, and only complaints — nobody posts to say their software worked. A high count mostly reflects how many people use Pyxis at all, so this page is not a quality judgement and should not be read as one. What it is good for is the shape of the gaps: the specific jobs people could not get done, which are the same whether the tool is popular or not.