Medication costs are rising at a startling rate, there is further scrutiny on controlled substance use, and medication non-adherence is taking a toll on healthcare costs and patient outcomes.
Meanwhile, nursing and pharmacy staff are often trapped performing repetitive and administrative tasks that keep them away from patient care. Paul O’Hanlon discusses the role of technology and automation in improving patient safety
The ‘Autonomous Pharmacy’ is a real and attainable vision for the future of digital medication management. It will combat challenges faced in healthcare today because manual, error-prone activities will be replaced by efficient, automated processes – ideally with 100% precision. Industry leaders are already making inroads towards this vision with a combination of advanced automation, data intelligence and service solutions. However, automation alone is not enough. The data from the automated systems must be harnessed to deliver intelligent insights and drive innovation in healthcare
This ambitious vision comes in the wake of a report by the Department of Health & Social Care, in 2018, which disclosed that in England 237 million mistakes occur every year at some point in the medication process. These errors cause serious issues for patient safety, but also place a significant cost burden on an already stretched NHS. The estimated costs to the NHS of avoidable adverse drug reactions is £98.5 million per year, consuming 181,626 bed days, causing 712 deaths and contributing to a further 1,078 deaths.1
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