Pharmacy automation has expanded in to different categories that increase efficiency and accuracy since the 1980s. Since around the 1980s, pharmacists have used early forms of pharmacy automation such as, digital tablet counters, to lower risk and labor costs for pharmacists. However, these techniques have been expensive and therefore inaccessible to independent pharmacists. Now, these automation machines have become cheaper and user friendly. Certain tasks performed in pharmacies are time consuming and prone to human error. Pharmacy automation accurately and efficiently performs these tasks, so patients can get their correct medications faster.
Pharmacy automation is the electronic process of distributing, sorting, packaging, and counting prescription medications. Pharmacy automation has many different purposes, including improving efficiency, minimizing labor costs, and improving accuracy. When pharmacy automation first became popular, pill counting was one of the only techniques. Now, there are many more accessible automation machines, including:
Dispensing medications is a large problem for pharmacies because it holds the potential for many errors and contaminants. The RxSafe and the RxVault provide automatic storage and retrieval. They also have machines that dispense the medications into convenient packages, including blister packs and strip packaging.
By using the dispensing machines, pharmacists are able to sync and keep track of the patients medications, without having to manually input them. The RxSafe and the RxVault also offer RxCloudAnalytics that track inventory, forecast demand, and provide cloud based access to those reports.
RxSafe technology automatically and accurately tracks all drugs in the pharmacy down to the pill or package by product lot number, expiration date, national drug code (NDC), and a serial number. While greatly enhancing pharmacy efficiency, this level of inventory tracking gets your pharmacy ready to read Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) bar codes now since this data satisfies serialization by the unique product identifier.
Pharmacy Automation all began with the first portable and digital pill counter. Invented somewhere between 1967 and 1970 by John and Frank Kirby, the digital pill counter completely changed and benefited pharmaceuticals. After that, several advances were created to improve the speed and accuracy of pill counters. The next major innovation wouldn’t take place until around 2008. This innovation created a new feature of dispensing and packaging medications after counting them. Since 2008, there has been vast progress in the storage, tracking, and dispensing automation machines.
Pharmacy Automation provides several benefits to pharmacy owners including increased accuracy and speed, better space savings, better narcotics security, and improved inventory management.
Accuracy and speed:Even if you aren’t a pharmacy owner, pharmacy automation affects you, since it will be handling the medications you take. As a consumer, this is a positive innovation, it ensures you get the right medication and the right amount, at the right time.
If you are a pharmacy owner and would like to improve your efficiency, call (877) 434-4503 now to speak with an adherence automation expert, or check out these products: