A major
responsibility of clinical and retail pharmacists is monitoring, filling,
dispensing and labeling prescription medications for their patients. While this
is an important responsibility, it can be very tedious and time consuming and
take away time pharmacists could be spend providing direct patient care. Thanks
to the rise of pharmacy automation systems, however, pharmacists can safely
administer prescription medications and spend more one-on-one time with
patients. More and more pharmacies, both large and small, are seeing the
various benefits of pharmacy automation systems.
A pharmacy
automation system is a robotic prescription dispensing system that has the
capability to manage, store and distribute patients' medications. They can
count, fill and label vials, as well as track and store over 200 medications
and patient information. With this, the systems improve patient safety and care
and boost productivity, while minimizing stress for pharmacists like Robert Lammle.
Another
benefit of this system is it can fill prescriptions after the pharmacy has
closed for the evening, leaving prescriptions ready for patients to pick up the
following morning. This is very beneficial for drive-through and high volume
pharmacies.
While these
systems pose many benefits, some are concerned they can lead to
cross-contamination. However, this issue is preventable because the systems
have separate cells for each different drug. The best automation systems also have
a photo verification feature which electronically records every prescription it
fills.
Another
argument in disfavor of pharmacy automation systems is that they will take jobs
away from pharmacists. However, this is not the case because the systems are
not fully performing the pharmacists' duties. A pharmacist has the complete
knowledge of drugs, their side effects and how they interact with other drugs and
are essential to providing the proper care to patients. They also perform
health screenings and immunizations and provide advice on prescriptions and
over-the-counter medications.
What are
your thoughts on pharmacy automation?
