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The Thai Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Abstract

Introduction: The automated medication pre-dispensing machine has been used to improve efficiency of pharmacy service. However, a nationwide situation of adopting the robot has not been known. Objective: The objective of the study is to determine the situation of adopting the automated medication pre-dispensing machine in public hospitals. Methods: The exploratory sequential design was used. Use in-depth interview to collect data from six key informants recruited by purposive sampling. Findings from the interview were used to develop a questionnaire for online survey. Results: This study had 42.5% of responses. 23 of 144 hospitals adopted the robot (16.0%). Hospital size was one of the factors for the use with 11 large medical centers adopting the robot. The main reasons for implementing the robot were to reduce medication errors, to overcome limited workforce problem. Eighteen hospitals used the robot for in-patient medication dispensing. The major problem was medication products unsuitable for automatic packaging such as certain tablets, liquid, injectable. These medications needed manual packaging which could allow for medication errors. Conclusion: The adoption of the automated medication pre-dispensing machine in public hospitals was mainly in large hospitals. With the aim to reduce medication errors and improve patient safety, some medication errors existed since certain medication products could not be automatically packaged.

DOI

10.56808/3027-7922.2796

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