University Times

One advanced technology that serves to free pharmacists' time for patient care and consultation is the McKessonHBOC Automated Healthcare's ROBOT-Rx, a centralized drug distribution system that automates storage, retrieval and dispensing of inpatient medications.

Now in place at UPMC Shadyside and soon to be used at UPMC Presbyterian, ROBOT-Rx is programmed to dispense scheduled medicines and first doses, as well as inpatient unit stock medicines.

The system works via a robotic arm operating on vertical and horizontal rails that retrieves medications and deposits them into patient-specific dispensers. The system uses bar codes to verify, retrieve and track unit dose medications dispensed to patients. ROBOT-Rx can retrieve one medication in under 3 seconds and can fill 700 doses per hour.

"This robotic technology is revolutionizing the pharmacy profession by enabling pharmacists to expedite service to inpatients, thus allowing them to focus more on direct patient care," said Robert J. Weber, executive director of pharmacy for UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Shadyside hospitals and professor of pharmacy and therapeutics at Pitt's School of Pharmacy. "These clinical activities include consultation with physicians and nurses on drug therapy and patient education. Additionally, this will help contain costs and maintain inventory control."

Under Pennsylvania law, pharmacists are required to double-check the robotic system's dosages for accuracy before sending them up to patient units, but the robotic system speeds up distribution procedures substantially.

ROBOT-Rx currently fills approximately 2,500 prescriptions per day at UPMC Shadyside. To date, the system is reported to have dispensed more than 45 million doses nationwide without an error.

–Peter Hart