Meet the Pharmacy Practice + Business Award winner for Technician Initiative Avalon Lupini, founder of SmartyPrints: Improving patient safety and pharmacy workflow
Pharmacy technician Avalon Lupini is part of the Health Sciences North hospital pharmacy team in Sudbury, Ont., and founder of healthcare startup Smarty Prints.
Why she won
This pharmacy technician found herself spending far too much time and effort handwriting expiry labels for medications, including IV bags, that would often fall off, smudge and become illegible. So she developed a solution that was not only a whole lot more efficient, it significantly improved patient safety in her workplace.
Lupini invented SmartyPrints, a printer system that prints quality expiry labels for medications, using a simple user-friendly interface that requires no additional training. With access to quality labels that do not smudge and stick to medications without falling off, risks to patients through medication errors have reduced significantly.
In fact, since trialing the prototype in the hospital in 2023, it has been used daily ever since. Her nominator noted that SmartyPrints has “transformed our departmental practices, saving valuable time during the day, and has contributed to our organizational strategic plan of being patient-focused….by ensuring that all medication is labelled appropriately, and eliminating questions regarding medication stability.” The hospital now owns two printers—one in the OR satellite pharmacy and one in the main department pharmacy—used to label approximately 3,000 products weekly.
Developing the product and launching her healthtech start-up has proved personally rewarding too, dramatically increasing Lupini’s knowledge around business practices and patents.
- Q&A with Avalon Lupini
What do you enjoy the most about what you do?
I am passionate about being a pharmacy technician and deeply committed to helping others while making meaningful improvements in health care. The opportunity to develop technology that enhances patient outcomes is especially fulfilling for me, as it allows me to contribute directly to bettering people's lives and advancing the field. This combination of helping others and being part of innovations in health care brings me a sense of purpose and joy in my work. I’m proud to say SmartyPrints was designed and manufactured here in Canada. The labels that support our printers are also Canada-made, and our packaging is environmentally friendly and recyclable. Keeping jobs in the Canadian economy is especially important to me.
What is your biggest challenge?
Having SmartyPrints go from an idea to manufacturing has posed some challenges over the past two years. The biggest is navigating all the various facets of bringing a product to market and needing to learn new skills in unfamiliar territories at each step of the way.
Is there someone in particular who mentored you, or served as a role model?
I have been for fortunate to have two amazing mentors in my startup business career. First, my husband who owns his own software company has guided me from the beginning of my business journey. My second mentor came to me last year as a volunteer through the federal Futurpreneur program. It has been an amazing experience to work with his guidance and expertise, which is a valuable asset to SmartyPrint’s success.
What’s your favourite way to spend time outside of work?
My favourite pastimes revolve around spending quality time with my family, especially watching my boys play hockey, which brings me a lot of joy. I also have a deep appreciation for nature, and I love getting outside to enjoy peaceful nature walks in my hometown of Sudbury, Ontario.
Name something you’re really good at, that has nothing to do with pharmacy.
I have a creative mind and love problem-solving and design. I apply this in my hobbies including home décor and design. I also enjoy researching patterns and colours to transform spaces and make inviting environments.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give a young pharmacy professional who wants to make a difference?
If you see something in our daily operations that could use improvement, especially where new technologies can be used, pursue it. This can impact you, your coworkers, and most importantly your patients. With the increase of patients in health care we should be looking at our processes and designing streamlined solutions using technology. Everyone in health care should have the tools they need to maximize their efficiency.
What’s next for you?
My vision for the future is to see the growth and success of SmartyPrints technology. I’d love to see it widely adopted in both retail and hospital pharmacy settings, where it can make a significant impact on patient safety, resource management, and time savings. Beyond that, I’m excited about the potential for this platform to expand and address other challenges in healthcare settings, helping to streamline operations and improve overall efficiency. My dream is to see SmartyPrints play a transformative role in health care, contributing to better outcomes for patients and professionals alike.
