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Success Story
Digitised Bedside Medication Management Boosts Safety and Speed at Istituto Nazionale Tumori
Founded in 1933, Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori “G. Pascale”, or Istituto Pascale for short, combines advanced surgery, medical oncology, and active clinical research, running numerous trials and treating patients from across Italy.
Zebra Success Story: Istituto Nazionale Tumori
Overview: Healthcare Challenge
Istituto Pascale wanted to digitise bedside prescribing and medication administration to improve safety, speed, and traceability, enabling clinicians to spend more time with patients.
Benefits / Outcomes
- 100% reduction in paper-based documentation
- 50% time saved in retrieving patient data
- Improved patient safety and full end-to-end traceability
- Faster bedside prescribing and clinical decision-making
- Real-time visibility into stock levels and usage across wards
- Better resource allocation and support for cost-control efforts
- 60% adoption across hospital wards
Customer
Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, “Fondazione G. Pascale”
Italy
Partner
Industry
Healthcare
Solutions
About Istituto Nazionale Tumori
Across Europe, hospitals are increasingly turning to digitised medication-management systems. A recent study by researchers at Healthcare Datascience LAB, LIUC, Università Carlo Cattaneo, estimates an average return on investment of 167%—equating to nearly €2 billion in annual savings—largely thanks to fewer administration errors.
Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori “G. Pascale”, or Istituto Pascale for short, a national research and treatment centre and the Campania region’s referral hub for cancer care, recognised this shift early. Founded in 1933, the institute combines advanced surgery, medical oncology, and active clinical research, running numerous trials and treating patients from across Italy. Therapies are complex and therapeutic windows are narrow, making precision and traceability not only desirable but vital to patient safety.
The Challenge
Historically, physicians’ orders at Istituto Pascale were handwritten on paper prescription forms and added to the paper medical record. This made it slow and often difficult to trace a patient’s therapeutic journey—who prescribed what, when, and how it was administered. Retrospective analysis was cumbersome as well, since even small details often required significant time to locate.
Cost management suffered too. Oncology drugs are often high-value or personalised, and without a prescribing system connected to pharmacy data, it was difficult to monitor spending, understand prescribing patterns, or justify changes in use. Any review meant chasing information across departments, slowing decisions, and limiting opportunities to optimise resources.
Rocco Saviano, Information System and Communication Technologies Manager at Istituto Pascale, leads efforts to improve bedside medication management, and to achieve a single digital medical record capturing a patient’s full therapeutic pathway. “Patient safety and maintaining the highest standard of pharmaceutical management is our priority,” he explains. “A single digital medical record ensures traceability of prescribing and administration to offer the best care to each patient and give them the right medication at the right time.”
By piloting and showcasing this solution at Istituto Nazionale Tumori, we intend to set a precedent for smart hospital workflows that can be replicated throughout our region.
The Solution
To bring prescribing and administration directly to the bedside, Istituto Pascale equipped clinical teams with Zebra’s ET4-HC Series tablets which are purpose-built for clinical environments. “The ET4-HC tablets are able to withstand drops, spills, and frequent disinfecting, while the bright, high-resolution display keeps information easy to read,” says Dr. Piera Maiolino, Director of Pharmacy at Istituto Pascale. A programmable emergency button allows rapid escalation when needed and the built-in barcode reader makes it quick to match each medication to the right patient.
INT ensured that keeping devices running smoothly would be straightforward. The tablets can stay connected even outside the hospital, and if a device is misplaced, IT teams can locate it or remotely wipe sensitive data. Zebra VisibilityIQ™ Foresight provides the team with a real-time view of which devices are active, where they are located, and whether they require attention. And with Zebra OneCare™, repairs are guaranteed within three business days, while spare devices on-site can be used as needed.
“The Zebra ET4-HC tablets integrate seamlessly with Kiranet’s FIDCARE platform, a healthcare information system (HIS) used for medication management and the smartcarts from Coevia Sistemi, for a connected experience that encompasses both prescription and administration,” says Dr. Maiolino. When a physician prescribes a therapy, the system identifies the medication by active ingredient and pharmacy availability, then automatically prepares the administration workflow. This includes assigning the correct drugs to a patient-specific drawer in the medication cart and recording every step in the patient’s digital record. The platform also tracks stock levels and usage over time, helping forecast drug needs and inform cost-control decisions.
The Zebra Difference: Outcome and Benefits
In practice, the workflow is straightforward. A patient’s ID wristband is printed using Zebra’s ZD400 Series Desktop Printer. At the bedside, the physician scans the patient’s wristband with the ET4-HC tablet, selects the therapy from the available options, and sets the dosage schedule. Nurses then take over. Medications arrive pre-barcoded—including lot and expiry details—so each dose can be captured at the correct time and linked to the right patient.
“With the ET4-HC tablets, physicians can now perform tasks without having to return to a workstation or rewrite everything on paper at the bedside,” says Dr. Maiolino. The system incorporates standard administration methods tied to each active ingredient, so clinicians no longer need to jot down instructions by hand. They can see treatment options in real time, enabling faster, better-informed decisions.
All ward workflows are now managed entirely digitally, achieving a 100% reduction in paper-based documentation. “The time saved in retrieving patient data—considering that in the past it was necessary to consult paper records—has effectively halved the time spent on these activities,” says Dr. Saviano. “That time is now reinvested in patient care.”
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