NYU Langone Medical Center has launched a state-of-the-art pharmacy that uses advanced robotics to help in its commitment to patient-centered care. The new pharmacy utilizes advanced robotic equipment to sort and dispense medications.

This programmed equipment does the work automatically with 99.99 percent accuracy in less than 30 minutes. The robotic equipment performs routine and repetitive tasks done by a pharmacist with increased efficiency and quality. Thus, it enables pharmacists to involve in direct patient care. 

The automated process of delivering drugs is done from an automated storeroom where computer orders batches of medication as needed. The computer identifies the required medicines by scanning the barcodes on individual pill bottles, vials and ampoules. The ordered medications are then packed and transferred to a drug nest, which is a system that stores about 54,000 doses of medication.

Now, when an electronic order is received from a prescriber, the pharmacist scrutinizes it for contradictions and adverse drug interactions and approves them. The approved medications are automatically loaded from the drug-nest into bar-coded plastic envelopes suspending from oversized rings called PickRings. These PickRings are transported throughout the hospital. The received medications are re-checked by nurse before administering. The best part of this technology is that the medications returned from patient floors can be restocked, which greatly reduces administrative and medication costs. 

Commenting on the inauguration, Dr. Robert I. Grossman, dean and CEO of NYU Langone Medical Center, said “Our new pharmacy exemplifies our ongoing commitment to patient focused care and patient safety.”

“Robotics is revolutionizing the way prescriptions are dispensed and delivered in the hospital setting and allows our pharmacists to spend more time interacting with the care team and patients and promoting more effective use of pharmaceuticals,” added Grossman.

This modern pharmacy is located on the third floor of the medical center’s flagship Tisch Hospital. It is a first of its kind in New York City and the second in New York State. With reduced work load, the pharmacists can now guide the nursing staff and serve the patients more effectively by advising them on medication usage once they go back home.

In related news, the robotics industry is set to grow by $100 billion in the next 20 years.

Vinti Vaid is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Vinti's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf