How Automated Dispensing Systems and Robots Improve Pharmacy Operations

Automated pharmacy dispensing systems or dispensing robots, are machines that allow medicine to be stored and dispensed near the point of care. Enabling machines to regulate and monitor the distribution of drugs eliminates the possibility of human error, resulting in more controlled and effective patient care. 

Although traditionally used in hospital pharmacies, they are increasingly used in community pharmacy settings, bringing significant benefits. In this blog, we will discuss how automated systems can improve operations and how you can find the best solution for your pharmacy.

Finding Time Efficiencies

With these dispensing systems doing most of the work, this minimises the administration heavy tasks your Pharmacists will have to do. With a machine dispensing drugs, this removes the chances of human error, improving the care your patients are receiving. With integrated clinical checks and controls this also reduces the workload for your team, allowing them to focus on giving your patients the best advice and care.

Consideration should be given to how the dispensing robot/ system integrates with your pharmacy patient medical record (PMR) system to ensure you can realise the most efficiencies. 

An integrated PMR and dispensing system should help you overcome challenges such as:

• Optimised prescription dispensing. Preparing prescripitions with an automated system means pharmacists and staff are free to deliver services and CPCS referrals and help patients in store.
• Integrated clinical checks. Built in clinical check workflows against the prescription to ensure that the medication being dispensed is accurate and safe for the patient based on their prescription.
• Comprehensive reporting. Auto-generated reports provide insight into inventory levels, medicine usage and patient outcomes.
  

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Clinical Safety and Compliance

Keith Ridge, NHS England’s Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, stated that ”the error rate in community pharmacy is around 3%” when compared to countries that have adopted automated pharmacy technology, the “rate is much lower: you need several zeros before the decimal place”.

Automated dispensing systems can help drive compliance by minimising manual processes through automation of clinical checks, making it easier to adhere to safety guidelines and legal requirements. For example, an automated dispensing system will dispense the safe and legal amount of drugs for the patients prescription. As long as the prescription remains unchanged, it will also schedule a refill/ repeat prescription within an appropriate time frame that is compliant and will ensure the patients dosage remains consistent. 

Having an automated dispensing system integrated with your PMR can provide smart and flexible dispensing automation and modular workflows to make dispensing quicker and safer, prioritising the Pharmacists time and helping you prevent lost revenue opportunities.

Pharmacy Manager provides a full suite of products that enable efficient dispensing, stock and order management, remote fulfillment and more in one solutions. Download our brochure to learn more.

Hub and Spoke pharmacy model automation

In this model, the Hub Pharmacy serves as the central facility where medicines are stored, dispensed and prepared for distribution to the spoke pharmacies for patients. The Hub is typically equipped with the facilities and expertise to ensure medication is properly stored, prescriptions managed and transported to ensure clinical safety is maintained and efficiency maximised. 

The Spokes, on the other hand, are the local pharmacy stores that provide services to patients in their community. Often they are smaller sites responsible for dispensing medications, providing advice and clinical services, and offering other support services such as medication adherence and disease management programmes.

Hub and Spoke offers an operational model where there is a need to efficiently manage distribution and patients access to medications. The model is particularly effective in rural or undeserved areas where there may be limited access to healthcare facilities or limited resources to manage medication distribution.

Hub and Spoke may also offer additional capacity where demand outweighs the resources in smaller pharmacy sites.

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Finding the right systems to support automated dispensing for your pharmacy

It is key to look for a system that is:

• Evolving. By selecting a provider that listens to feedback from pharmacists and continuously improves their solution, you can be confident that the system will be supported and meet your needs.
  
• Built to be future proof. Look for a system that is designed to flex and adapt to address changes and new opportunities in the pharmacy industry, such as new regulations or technological advancements without the need to replace or upgrade your system.
• Integrates with NHS and patient facing systems. A system that connects NHS and patient-facing systems, offering integration with data can help simplify workflows, reduce errors, and improve patient care by providing up-to-date information on medications and patient history.
• A complete Pharmacy Business Solution. A system that is part of a wider solution of integrated apps and services, can help you manage your pharmacy operations more efficiently across systems and processes in the pharmacy business, such as inventory management and  electric Point of Sales (ePoS).
  

Discover the benefits of automated dispensing

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