Pharmacy Technology and Automation

Pharmacy Technology and Automation

• Pharmacy technology automates administrative tasks, enabling pharmacists and technicians to provide high-quality care, complementing physician care plans.
• Automation is the process of using technology to enhance medication storage, dispensing, management, and reordering. This streamlines the entire medication management process.
• Advanced automation systems improve accuracy and seamlessly integrate into daily operations. This results in better inventory management, cost savings, and improved pharmacist-patient interaction.
• Pharmacy automation is the electronic process of distributing, sorting, packaging, and counting prescription medications. It aims to increase efficiency and accuracy, while minimizing labor costs.
• Pharmacy automation helps improve medication accuracy. Devices like counting devices can safeguard against errors in prescription filling. This ensures quantity errors are minimized and allows for more frequent inventory checks.
• Automation improves safety and patient care by reducing workload and errors. It also enhances efficiency, documentation, and allows for more pharmacist time in pharmaceutical care.
• Information technology in pharmacy includes less paper work, faster access to information, increased speed in processing information. Tools like E-prescribing and computerized prescriber order entry (for inpatient) are part of this.
• Benefits of automation include improved speed, accuracy, documentation, efficiency, and the ability to analyze and generate new information.
• Challenges to automation include cost, space concerns, the fear of pharmacists being replaced by robots, and the risk of errors cascading.
• Types of pharmacy automation include tablet counters, IV compounders, and dispensing machines (unit dose) with repackaging options.

Benefits of Pharmacy Automation

• Automation streamlines repetitive tasks, freeing up time and resources, especially for large health systems.
• Modern automation systems are more affordable, compact, accessible for community and specialty pharmacies.
• Automation systems improve security, optimize inventory, minimize errors, and accelerate dispensing processes.
• Automation improves medication accuracy to avoid errors that lead to severe and fatal consequences. In the US, 7,000-9,000 people die annually due to a dispensing or prescription error.
• Robotic dispensing machines handle major portions of daily prescriptions quickly improving efficiency. Discrepancies can be quickly rectified, verifying prescription fills and confirming error location.

Pharmacy Automation and Inventory Management

• Automation solutions address inventory management and compliance. Counting devices and automation software help track output and update inventories. This reduces stock redundancies and unnecessary reordering
• Electronic logs eliminate manual record-keeping and help with smoother reconcilement, and aid in tighter control of sensitive or expensive drugs.

Space and Storage

• Pharmacies usually require significant space for medication storage.
• Automated storage and retrieval systems incorporating dispensing robots free up space.
• Systems can store 50-90% of a pharmacy's stock depending on the technology. Examples include RoboPharma's automated systems that efficiently store, track and dispense medications.

Labor Costs

• Automation is helpful during busy periods or staff shortages
• Devices automate routine tasks, letting staff focus on complex procedures that need specialized expertise
• This leads to more efficient use of pharmacist and technician time on higher-value tasks without impacting costs or hiring. This avoids extra payment for overtime or additional staff.
• Improved efficiency, due to reduced preparation and dispensing time, is reflected in decreased operational costs and increased revenue and profit margins.

Patient Care and Engagement

• Automation frees up pharmacy staff time from administrative tasks, and allows staff to better engage patients.
• Innovative technologies like automated prescription kiosks provide 24/7 precision care and medication retrieval options.
• This results in a faster, more streamlined pick-up experience for patients, as well as time savings for both the pharmacy and the patient.

Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacy

• AI can help automate routine and traditionally manual tasks in pharmacy, such as ordering, verifying, dispensing, and even administering medications.
• AI offers an enhanced level of support for pharmacists and other clinicians across many aspects of medication therapy.