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Robot Pharmacist! - part 1
Submitted by praseengp on Fri, 04/25/2008 - 12:04.
in
In my last blog I wrote about some of the famous persons who were pharmacists in the past. I think that was a new sort of information for the readers. Now, it’s the time to discuss the next interesting thing I came to know very recently. All of us know about robots, products of drastically developing technology. But, you know these robots started replacing human pharmacists in some foreign countries in filling prescription, dispensing and even mixing of drugs! Seems quiet strange? Till now, robot pharmacists could find a place in the hospital and community pharmacies in some of the countries like US, UK and even in Thailand.
This kind of robot pharmacists in hospital and community pharmacies came into picture in 2005 (UK). In March 12, 2008 Asia’s first robot pharmacist was introduced in Bumrungrad International hospital , Thailand. Bumrungrad International will use the Swisslog system to improve care and safety for its 1.2 million patients from 190 different countries each year.!
The technology runs off the same bar-code system used by laser scanners that read prices in grocery stores. Doctors type prescriptions into a pharmacy computer system and the orders send the robot into action. Riding on a conveyor belt, the robot picks up an empty vial, identifies the bar code of the chosen drug, and automatically fills the drug bottle. The system counts out the right number of prescribed pills because it's calibrated to recognize the size and shape of each type of pill. A robot pharmacist that doctors say can deliver safer chemotherapy to cancer patients will go into operation this year at the University of Colorado Hospital (US).
The system is already being used at hospitals in Europe. Hospital pharmacies mix the drugs for chemotherapy treatments in sterile environments and double check the doses. Doctor say the robot is better because it reduces the risk of mistakes by eliminating manual calculations and human error. The robot also allows pharmacists to spend more time on the wards with patients, and less time dispensing pills. ROBOT-Rx® is a such kind of robot which dispenses more than a half billion medications error free every year improving pharmacy automation. ROBOT-Rx is ideal for hospitals that want to implement measures to improve medication errors prevention, accurately track and manage unit-dose inventory, dispense medications for multiple facilities or sites, and implement bedside point-of-care systems using bar code varification
a robot pharmacist
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Will it not create jobless Pharmacists
The topic is good, no doubt. But a simple question, will this not cause many pharmacists to loose their job, Will the errors caused by robot machine errors?
And also an important question will it be feasible in a country like India? The large pharmacies may afford it but what about small pharmacies?
Just gave my opinion do give a look by this side also.
may not be a threat for Indian pharmacists..
Lakshya,
Ofcourse this may create a threat for the pharmacists inthose countries. Iam too scared of that..The concept of robot pharmacist was amazing to me and thats why i selected this topic. Actually the hospital pharmacies in UK and US suffer from a big rush at the counter and enough pharmacists are not produced there to meet the needs. I dont think any pharmacy in India can such huge expenses. Morover in India the scope for them is found to be less. Please refer the comment written by Mr Sai..