ObjectiveIn Australian hospitals, a central distribution system is often utilised to supply medication to clinical areas. This study investigated the impact of automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) and inventory robots in medication distribution within an Australian hospital. MethodsA prospective observational study of pharmacy technician medication supply to clinical areas was conducted over a 2-week period pre- and post-implementation of ADCs and inventory robots. Information was collected on the time taken to perform all tasks required to provide a weekly medication supply service for medication other than drugs of addiction. ResultsThere was no significant reduction of total duration for medication supply, pre-implementation mean 73.08 min versus post-implementation 68.59 min (P = 0.567). An instance of automation downtime occurred during the post-implementation period for which manual downtime procedures were implemented. Without downtime, a significant reduction in overall time taken was observed, 74.25 min versus 63.18 min (P = 0.019). Pre-restocking medication selection errors were reduced non-significantly after implementation of inventory robots, 11 (0.43%) versus 4 (0.21%) errors (P = 0.090). ConclusionsImplementation of ADCs and robots did not significantly reduce the total time to provide a weekly medication supply service when downtime occurred, although a significant reduction was observed when downtime did not occur. Pharmacy medication selection errors were non-significantly lower. What is known about the topic?Australian hospitals are increasingly implementing automated technology such as ADCs and inventory robotics in an attempt to improve efficiency and accuracy of medication supply; however, limited literature is available in an Australian setting. What does this paper add?This paper describes the impact of implementing ADCs in clinical areas (e.g. inpatient wards) and inventory robots in a main store pharmacy on the medication supply process. This paper highlights the benefit of improved efficiency and accuracy in selecting medication in pharmacy for distribution and identifies time to restock the ADCs is significantly increased. What are the implications for practitioners?Implementing ADCs and inventory robotics in Australian hospitals can provide benefits in efficiency and accuracy; however, robust downtime procedures are essential.

Dear Editor,We congratulate Hogan et al. 1 on the recent publication of their article assessing the impact of implementing a pharmacy robotics dispensing system (PRDS) on dispensing and imprest supply in an Australian tertiary hospital pharmacy. Until now, there has been no local data examining the use of PRDS. We add our findings regarding PRDS implementation on the dispensing process in the Australian hospital pharmacy setting.Fiona Stanley Hospital, a new quaternary referral hospital, implemented PRDS in the pharmacy dispensary and stores areas. We compared the efficiency and accuracy of a manual dispensing process against the PRDS dispensing process following the installation of pharmacy robotics. The robot (Roma Vmax â ; Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, USA) is a whole pack chaotic storage device with dual multi-pick robotic heads, equipped with both fully and semi-automated inputting devices, conveyor chutes and a stock crating system, and has bidirectional interface with iPharmacy, the medication dispensing and stock management system.The dispensing stages assessed were: typing the label, picking stock, labelling and final check. We implemented a hybrid workflow with the use of both robotic and manual processes when picking stock. The manual picking process was for items that were unable to be stored in the robot such as refrigerated items and part packs.One study author (SV) directly observed dispensing activity, recording timing and errors for each stage of dispensing.After PRDS was implemented, each item required a mean of 13 s longer to dispense (see Table 1). The labelling stage increased with PRDS while typing and checking times were unchanged. The potential causes of this included: lack of familiarity with the PRDS process and the presence of less experienced dispensary support staff responsible for the labelling step. As expected, PRDS led to a decrease in picking time. Prescription urgency and workload were not assessed. Hogan et al. 1 suggest that PRDS efficiency benefits explain their unchanged overall prescription turnaround times and staff productivity despite an increased dispensary workload. Other published research assessing the time impact post-PRDS implementation is conflicting. 2 *Significance of picking method in a regression equation including picking method and number of items as independent variables and stage time as dependant variable

There is a lack of published literature investigating the impact of anaesthesia-specific automated medication dispensing systems on theatre staff. This study aimed to investigate the perspectives of theatre staff from multiple disciplines on their experience using anaesthesia stations three years after implementation at our Western Australian quaternary hospital institution. A web-based survey was distributed to 440 theatre staff, which included consultant anaesthetists, anaesthetic trainees, nurses, anaesthetic technicians and pharmacists, and 118 responses were received (response rate 26.8%). Eighty-one percent of the anaesthetic medical staff responders reported that the anaesthesia stations were fit for purpose and 66.67% of the anaesthetic medical staff reported that they were user friendly. Sixty-seven percent of anaesthetic medical staff agreed that controlled medication (e.g. schedule 8 and schedule 4 recordable) transactions were more efficient with the anaesthesia stations, and 66.67% agreed that the anaesthesia stations improved accountability for these transactions. Sixty-seven percent of anaesthetic medical staff preferred to use anaesthesia stations and 21.2% of all the responders preferred a manual medication trolley ( P ≤ 0.001). This survey of user experience with anaesthesia stations was found to be predominantly positive with the majority of theatre staff and anaesthetic medical staff preferring anaesthesia stations.