In an effort to reduce pharmacy misfills and medication error, the Medical Center of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has recently employed a series of pharmacy robots, according to recent technology news that our Baltimore-based pharmacy misfill attorneys have been following.
In the newly automated hospital pharmacy, UCSF has employed what they consider to be the most comprehensive robots on the market, to prepare and track medications and improve the safety of patients. According to UCSF, since the automated system took over in October 2010, there has not been a single error in the 350,000 medication doses prepared.
This newly automated pharmacy reportedly streamlines the delivery of medication from the prescription directly to the patient, making every step in the medication therapy process safe and effective–from deciding the best drug treatment to patient administration—in order to reduce medication error injury.
How the Robo-Pharmacy Technology works:
• The automated system reportedly prepares medications that are oral and injectable, including chemotherapy drugs that are toxic. The robots are also able to fill IV bags or syringes with medications.
• Once the computers receive a new electronic medication order from an UCSF physician and pharmacist, the robots pick the medication, package the drugs, and dispense doses of the pills that are individualized for each patient.
• The robots assemble medication doses into a thin plastic ring that contains a bar code with all of patients’ medications for a period of 12 hours.
• In the fall of this year, all UCSF Medical Center nurses will start using bar code scanners that read patients’ medication data at their bedsides–a topic our attorneys have discussed in a recent Maryland pharmacy error injury blog–to verify that the patient is being treated with the correct medication.
• A robotic inventory management system also maintains all medication products, with pharmacy warehouses that provide both refrigerated and non-refrigerated drug and supply storage and retrieval.
In Maryland and the Washington D.C.-area, contact our pharmacy error injury lawyers today for a free consultation.
My Pharmacist the Robot: New Technology Reduces Prescription Errors, TechNewsDaily Staff, March 14, 2011
Related Web Resources:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Medication Error Reports
Institute for Safe Medication Practices, (ISMP)
Related Blog Posts:
Maryland Hospitals Decrease Medication Error with New Technology, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, November 18, 2010
Study Finds Maryland Hospitals Improve Safety and Health Standards, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, November 17, 2010
Study Shows Barcode eMAR Technology Can Help Reduce Medication Errors, Pharmacy Error Injury Lawyer Blog, November 3, 2010