Progress in Adopting Electronic Technology for Medication Dispensing and Administration

Results of the 2011 American Society of Health System Pharmacists national survey of pharmacy practice showed that adoption of new technology is changing the philosophy of medication distribution and that health information is rapidly becoming electronic. The study of 1,401 general and children’s hospitals in the United States evaluated practices and technologies related to dispensing and administration. According to the survey results, 40% of hospitals used a decentralized system and 58% of hospitals reported planning to use a decentralized model. Automated dispensing cabinets were used by 89% of hospitals, robots were used by 11%, carousels were used by 18%, and machine-readable coding was used by more than one-third of hospitals to verify doses before dispensing.