Question

Please answer in detail and in at least two paragraphs, thank you.

Q: As the administrator of a small hospital, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of introducing a centralized computerized hospital pharmacy system using robots.

Answer 1

Advantages of using robots

Speed

Machines are faster compared to human beings. Patients will not have to wait for longer time to receive their services. Machines can also feel the prescription faster therefor many patients will be served within a shorter period of time.

Customer service

With the robots dealing with the filling of prescriptions, the doctors will have enough time to interact fully with the patients, and answer some questions which will affect their health positively. The doctors will also have enough time to provide basic prevention care such as health screening and various immunizations.

Security

Automated dispensing machines are used to provide security to the medication. Only the authorized personnel have access to the medicines. This reduces the chances of the medicines being stolen or contaminated as a result of human error.

Safety

The pharmacy staffs are likely to confuse r mix pills which may be looking alike, while the machine cannot do this. The medications are also kept in a sterile environment preventing he risk of contamination.

Disadvantage of using robots

Software problems

Computer programs which run the machine might fail anytime without even warning. Hooking the machine with the management system record after installing updates might take longer, and need to be properly done to prevent future failure. This greatly affects the normal working of the hospital.

Breakdowns

If the machine becomes malfunctioning, it will definitely require service for some time. This mean that the pharmacist will need to do the work which was being done by the machines manually. there will be a greater delay in the services being offered.

Mistakes

In case of wrong medication loading into the machine occurs, many of the patients will get wrong medication before the pharmacist realise the problem in the machines. This means that most patients wont get better and they might also lose their trust on those pharmacists.

Variety

Automated dispensing machines are of different types. The old ones are likely to be slower and less reliable. On the other hand the new ones might be expensive to buy and maintain and complicated to use.