Will Robots Put an End to Prescription Errors?

Many Pharmacies fill more than 10,000 medication orders in one day.  As part of the process pharmacists or pharmacy assistants have to sort through thousands of different medications that often look similar or have similar names., That is 10,000 times a day for an imperfect human being to commit a prescription error.  That error could cause catastrophic injury or a wrongful death.

I have previously blogged about new technology that is attempting to lower the number of prescription errors. UCSF Medical center has taken the new technology to a whole new level. They have developed a robotic pharmacy worker that could possibly eliminate prescription errors in pharmacies.

There are many benefits to this robotic system.  The robot fills prescriptions electronically, which makes it easier to keep up-to-date records. The Robot also keeps the medication sterile, eliminating the risk of contamination.  However, most exciting benefit involves the robots ability to perform repetitive tasks the same way each time without a mistake.  The robot being used at UCSF Medical Center has filled 350,000 prescriptions all without an error occurring. This technology will free up Pharmacy staff to answer questions and help patients.  This system will drastically increase the amount of prescriptions filled, and will eliminate the chance for human error. 

As a pharmacy malpractice attorney, I know that prescription errors are a very real and dangerous occurrence in today's world.  It is nice to see that these facts were addressed and maybe one day with the help of robots and new technology, no person will be injured by a pharmaceutical error.