US Army uses robots to cut Rx drug errors

A series of robotic pharmacy systems are being introduced by the US Army to automate prescription drug dispensation and reduce errors, at a time when the number of accidents involving medical errors is reported to have increased 3% in 2006.

A recent report by the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer newspaper examined three systems adopted at the Martin Army Community Hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia. The Pharmacy 2000 Workflow system cost $2.4 million and uses barcodes to identify patients, staff members, prescriptions and drugs. The software works with an accounting system to record transactions and an automated dispensing machine to deliver the drugs to a pharmacist with the appropriate labels and a photograph of the product for double checking.

A second system, FastPak 330 handles physician orders in a barcoded package that is placed in a dispensing machine which allocates a drawer for each patient. A third automated delivery system, FlexRx PickPoint is operated in a similar fashion to the FastPak 330, except that it is designed for use in emergency and pediatric departments. Several US states are working on information technology programs, to develop interaction between patient electronic health records held by physicians, pharmacies and payers.