Effect of an automated dispensing cabinet system on drug distribution effectiveness in a surgical unit
Open accessAbstract
The use of the automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) for drug distribution in hospitals has become increasingly common and has numerous benefits. This retrospective study assessed the effectiveness of an ADC that uses integrated information technology in the drug distribution process in a surgical unit as part of a smart medical process improvement project at Taichung Veterans General Hospital in 2019. The outcomes include medicine delivery time, working time of healthcare professionals, transportation manpower, dispensing errors, and satisfaction of nursing staff with the medication distribution process. After ADC implementation, the average waiting time of standing orders decreased significantly for both on and off duty periods (40.0 ± 27.6 to 3.0 ± 3.9 min, P < 0.001; 45.2 ± 25.8 to 2.9 ± 2.9 min, P < 0.001; respectively). Similar results were observed with immediate or temporary medication orders (54.4 ± 31.5 to 2.0 ± 3.0 min, P < 0.001; 64.0 ± 47.5 to 1.5 ± 1.8 min, P < 0.001; respectively). The average time spent by operation room and post-operation room (OR/POR) nurses on communicating with ward nurses for medication delivery to OR/POR was shortened by 46.9 ± 4.4 h per month, and the average time pharmacists spent on dispensing immediate or temporary medication orders was shortened by 5.6 ± 0.2 h per month. The satisfaction of nursing staff with the OR/POR drug delivery process was significantly improved after ADC implementation (3.2 ± 0.8 vs 4.2 ± 0.7, P < 0.001). Our results showed that ADC implementation in surgical units simplified drug delivery processes, shortened drug delivery time, improved drug delivery timeliness for surgical patients, decreased dispensing errors, and increased nursing staff satisfaction. In conclusion, the implementation of ADC was beneficial for surgical units. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no studies on a similar ADC system.
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Liou et al. noted that pharmacists spent on average 5.6 ± 0.2 h less per month dealing with requests for medication supply.
“Liou et al. noted that pharmacists spent on average 5.6 ± 0.2 h less per month dealing with requests for medication supply.35”
From Benefits and challenges associated with implementation and ongoing use of automated dispensing cabinet for medicines: A scoping review (2025) · cites this paper as [35]
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Research works printed but not linked: 17
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Jung, Y. Y., Walsh, Á., Patel, J., & Lai, K. (2025) · Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy · doi:10.1016/j.rcsop.2025.100599 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“19 This observation was supported by other publications, 15,19,20,23,35,39 where Cottney et al. described 66 min of time saving associated with medicines administration per ward per day by nurses (2.94 min pre-ADC to 2.37 min post-ADC).”
Influential
- Authors
- Liou, J.-H., Wang, S.-C., Hou, Y.-C., Yen, C.-H., Chen, H.-M., Liou, W.-S., & Wu, M.-F.
- Affiliations
- China Medical University (TW)
- Taichung Veterans General Hospital (TW)
- Corresponding author
- Wu, Ming-Fen
- Venue
- Heliyon
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-11
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- e21668
- ISSN
- 2405-8440 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10660017
- OpenAlex
- W4388192738
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 3.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Heliyon (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Taichung Veterans General Hospital
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Pharmacy and Medical Practices
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Electronic Health Records Systems
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Safe Handling of Antineoplastic Drugs
- Keywords
- automated dispensing cabinets, surgical wards, dispensing errors, nursing satisfaction, pharmacist workload, procedural rules, operating room nursing, integrated information technology, process improvement
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