'Toledo' Dispenses Drugs
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'Toledo'
ScriptPro robotic prescription dispensing system |
Every robot needs a name. Officially, it’s a ScriptPro robotic prescription dispensing system, but the staff of Neenah’s Morton Pharmacy quickly named its new team member “Toledo” after a charismatic – and apparently very efficient – pharmacy tech who left to pursue more schooling.
Installed in early 2007, Toledo holds 182 different drugs, specifically chosen because they are the most regularly prescribed. At this time, Toledo fills nearly half of all prescriptions at the Neenah pharmacy, yet pharmacist manager Jeff Cushman explained the importance of the robot and humans working together to ensure Toledo’s accuracy.
Prescriptions are input, and if the drug is one of the 182, Toledo will select the vial, count the tablets and wrap the label. Pharmacists and technicians must verify the fill by scanning the barcode on the bottle. Toledo displays a picture of the tablet that results from the scan and the staff member matches the screen image to what’s in the bottle.
Jeff Cushman also explained that staffers do 10 to 12 manual counts per day to ensure that the robot is properly filling the vials.
The last quality control check is when the pharmacist checks the patient’s profile to ensure there will not be any complications or drug interactions.
“Over the years, pharmacy has become more about volume and filling more prescriptions. Our robot allows us to use fewer resources to do the manual work and frees us up to interact more with our customers,” Cushman observed.
