BrodyBlog

ALMOST HALF of all Americans take at least one prescription medication on a regular basis, and one in six takes more than three, according to the most recent information on prescription habits compiled by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.

In particular, adult use of anti-depressants such as Zoloft or Prozac has increased exponentially since the late 1980s, as have many other categories of medication, from antihistamines to anti-cholesterol drugs.

But the number of pharmacists, licensed pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy specialists has not kept pace with the rising number of prescriptions, and the soaring cost of many medications has forced many smaller pharmacies to dramatically reduce the amount of medications they offer, or focus on a niche market of custom-made compounds for patients with allergies to elements in traditional formulas.

Retail pharmacies in urban areas or those with high population density can easily fill several hundred prescriptions per day. To prevent medication interactions, fraudulent prescriptions for controlled substances, and to better control inventory, most retail pharmacies employ sophisticated computer systems that manage the work-flow of filling a prescription.

Initially, all drugs kept in the pharmacy are scanned and stored in a computer database, as is patient and doctor information. A doctor's DEA number, a unique algorithm issued by the federal government to physicians licensed to prescribe controlled substances, such as Xanax and Oxycontin, is stored in a database along with other information.

When prescriptions are received, they are almost always converted to an electronic document via a scanning device, allowing the pharmacy staff to review the prescription and if necessary, check the prescription for authenticity by verifying a DEA number and cross referencing a signature. After the prescription is entered into the system, a computer program checks for possible negative interactions with other medications in a patient's profile, and then prints bottle labels and medication info sheets, waiting for the pharmacist to fill the script.

But with cheaper, safer, and more reliable robotic systems, could your neighborhood pharmacist be plugged into the wall?

A new generation of intelligent robotic systems can process and receive, via telephone or online customer interface, and process prescription requests by selecting, counting, labeling, and packaging medication in a fraction of the time taken at conventional pharmacies.

Some robots are able to locate medication by radio-frequency chips and process prescriptions using a laser-based counting system. Because the net weight of many medications is constant, an additional safety check can be done as a robot weighs the amount of medication it has dispensed against a failsafe of what the total weight should be, similar to technology used in self-checkout kiosks in grocery stores. If the wrong medication is accidentally filled, a discrepancy in the weight will immediately involve a pharmacy staff member to investigate and correct the process.

State and federal law require that regardless of the method of preparation, prescriptions must, in most all cases, be examined and verified by a licensed pharmacist before being dispensed to the patient. But despite many advancements in technology, training, and patient education, errors do occur, often with fatal consequence.

A 1999 report issued by the Institute of Medicine estimated that up to 98,000 Americans die in hospitals from medication errors. The financial cost of these mistakes in malpractice suits, civil damages, and federal loss of funding is estimated at approximately $70 Billion dollars annually.

An article published in the May 2007 issue of the journal Medical Care reported that a study in 2003, which sampled data from 672 pharmacies in 18 metro regions across the country, found that on average, a pharmacy filled 1,375 prescriptions per week over a three month period. During that time, the number of prescriptions filled with a possibility for harmful drug interactions dispensed by each pharmacy was just over 32.

In addition, researchers found that for every hour a pharmacy was open, there was only an average of 1.2 pharmacists on duty. An author of the study stated in conclusion that, “It appears that prescription volume is exceeding capacity and that automation and other pharmacy staffing may not sufficiently compensate for the increased pharmacist workload."

Many experts believe that further integration of robotics in the pharmacy may be the way forward in reducing risks and errors involved with high-volume prescription processing.

In 1997, ScriptPro Robotics introduced the first robotic prescription dispensing system for community pharmacies. Since then, the company has developed a broad spectrum of solutions for both large and small pharmacies, including hospital and government applications.

Today, the original robotic system installed by ScriptPro remains in service.