Area Hospital Unveils New Robot
By: Charlotte Ames
Updated: July 13, 2011
One out of about every five medication doses in a typical hospital or nursing home is wrong, according to a study at Auburn University. Now a hospital in our region is reducing the chances of human error, by adding a robot.
If it could talk, the drug-dispensing robot at DuBois Regional Medical Center would probably brag. According to DRMC pharmacists, since the machine went online recently, it's been 100% accurate.
The Pro-Manager RX holds 12,000 doses. All medications come packaged from the manufacturers with bar-codes. The pharmacists enter the doctor's prescription order into the computer and every dose dispensed is bar-code scanned.
After it comes out of the machine, it's scanned again, about eight times in all , before leaving the hospital pharmacy. About 90% of drugs are also scanned at the patient's bedside.
The robot dispenses 80% of hospital doses, between1,500 to 2,000 doses a day, depending on the number of patients in the hospital. The rest come from another closely monitored component, the Intellishelf.
Pharmacy Tech Shelly Wonderling says "the robot is the first line of hierarchy, so everything is dispensed out of there, that is in the Pro manager and what 's not goes to the Intellishelf which lights up a light." Then, the pharmacist goes to the shelf which is lighted, takes the medication out and checks the bar code again.
The Intellishelf's manufacturer says it reduces potential errors caused by look-alike/sound-alike medications and lowers drug costs by automatically selecting "best price" items
If it could talk, the drug-dispensing robot at DuBois Regional Medical Center would probably brag. According to DRMC pharmacists, since the machine went online recently, it's been 100% accurate.
The Pro-Manager RX holds 12,000 doses. All medications come packaged from the manufacturers with bar-codes. The pharmacists enter the doctor's prescription order into the computer and every dose dispensed is bar-code scanned.
After it comes out of the machine, it's scanned again, about eight times in all , before leaving the hospital pharmacy. About 90% of drugs are also scanned at the patient's bedside.
The robot dispenses 80% of hospital doses, between1,500 to 2,000 doses a day, depending on the number of patients in the hospital. The rest come from another closely monitored component, the Intellishelf.
Pharmacy Tech Shelly Wonderling says "the robot is the first line of hierarchy, so everything is dispensed out of there, that is in the Pro manager and what 's not goes to the Intellishelf which lights up a light." Then, the pharmacist goes to the shelf which is lighted, takes the medication out and checks the bar code again.
The Intellishelf's manufacturer says it reduces potential errors caused by look-alike/sound-alike medications and lowers drug costs by automatically selecting "best price" items
Charlotte Ames is the area's only local Health Reporter and brings you the latest medical health news weeknights. You can catch Healthcast on WTAJ News at 5:00pm and her Health Headlines report on WTAJ News at 5:30pm.