Robotics in acute care hospitals

In the past few years, ASHP has been focusing on the future practice of pharmacy in hospitals and health systems. In November 2010, the Pharmacy Practice Initiative Summit was held. During this summit, one of the main focus areas was how information technology and automation played a crucial role in allowing the practice of pharmacy to continue to advance.1 With this in mind, the ASHP Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology’s Section Advisory Group (SAG) on Pharmacy Operations Automation sought to provide guidance on the integration of robotics in acute care hospitals. Many activities in hospital pharmacy are dangerous, exposing pharmacy staff to toxic chemicals, sharp objects, and heavy lifting. Pharmacy has dealt with these issues through process improvement, utilizing workflow changes, technology, and computer systems to enhance medication safety and the work environment. Examples of these improvements include the introduction of unit dose medication dispensing and i.v. preparation programs in the late 1960s. Advancements continued with the introduction of pharmacy automation through pill counting machines in the 1970s and the introduction of computer systems for processing medication orders and medication labeling in the 1980s.2,3