Notice: Inpatient bedside phones are being phased out at Nova Scotia Health facilities beginning May 31. Please bring a personal device and charging equipment for your hospital stay.
Hospitals across Nova Scotia are rolling out automated medication dispensing machines and upgraded medication management software, giving care teams the tools to deliver safer, faster care while boosting efficiency for frontline staff. Nova Scotia Health recently completed a province-wide rollout of 469 BD Pyxis (TM) automated medication dispensing cabinets, supplied by global medical technology company BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company). The cabinets securely store medications on patient care units and allow nurses and other clinicians to access them quickly at point of care.
In 2025, between October and December, more than six million medication doses were dispensed through Pyxis machines across hospitals in Nova Scotia, demonstrating the scale and critical role this technology plays in day-to-day patient care.
For Jana Vickers, pharmacy automation lead with Nova Scotia Health, the project represents an important improvement in how medications are accessed and managed across teams.
“Automated dispensing cabinets are a major step forward for medication safety in Nova Scotia,” said Vickers. “They reduce the risk of medication errors, provide secure tracking of medications and ensure clinicians can access the medications patients need quickly and safely.”
Faster access when patients need it most.
Having medications available directly on care units means clinicians don’t have to leave the area to retrieve medications, an important advantage during urgent situations. One example of this is pre-stocked emergency medication kits stored within the cabinets. These kits allow clinicians to quickly access everything needed to treat urgent situations such as severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) or asthma attacks, helping care teams respond quickly when every minute counts.
In addition to providing secure access to medications and real-time tracking of drug use—an important safeguard for high-risk medications such as narcotics—the cabinets help ensure medications are used appropriately and cuts down on waste.
The technology has also improved both access and security for anesthesiologists working in operating rooms.
“The introduction of the Pyxis machines to our operating rooms has been a success,” said Dr. Michael Fader, anesthesiologist at Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville. “Our anesthesiologists now have immediate access to a much larger variety and greater quantity of critical medications than before.”
Fader says the added safeguards are equally important.
“We routinely work with medications that, in the wrong hands, could be harmful,” he said. “It’s very reassuring that these drugs are securely stored at all times in the Pyxis machines with controlled access through fingerprint identification.”
A standardized approach across the province
Automated dispensing cabinets have existed in some Nova Scotia hospitals for years, but systems and workflows varied. The new rollout introduces a standardized provincial approach to medication management, along with new clinical policies for how medications are stored, accessed, and monitored.
The project also introduced specialized cabinets designed for operating rooms and other clinical areas where medications must be available quickly.
Specialized teams within Nova Scotia Health, including pharmacists, nurses and clinical experts, worked together to coordinate the rollout across multiple hospitals and care settings.
A key role was played by the Technology Enabled Practice team, whose members travelled across the province supporting work to put cabinets in place at each site. Their hands-on work with local teams was critical to ensuring the successful rollout of the new system.
The implementation began in spring 2024 and continues today, with additional machines planned for several other sites, including 11 new cabinets scheduled to be installed at West Bedford Transitional Health in the coming months.
For Vickers, the impact is clear.
“These cabinets are helping nurses spend more time at the bedside and giving pharmacists better tools to monitor medication use,” she said. “By standardizing this technology across the province, we’re helping ensure patients receive the right medication at the right time, no matter where they receive care.”
The initiative is part of Nova Scotia Health’s broader efforts to modernize and standardize clinical tools and support safer, more consistent patient care across the province.
Photo of (1) (L-R) Lin Nguyen, BD clinical consultant; Jana Vickers, pharmacy automation lead and Lindsey Kenny, pharmacy operations manager for Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville. (2) Lindsay Smith, a LPN on the surgical unit at Valley Regional Hospital, uses a BD Pyxis automated medication dispensing cabinet.