Automation of a tertiary hospital pharmacy drug dispensing system in a lower-middle-income country: A case study and preliminary results
Open accessAbstract
Background: An increase in the use of automated systems has optimised the drug dispensing process in hospitals. Methods: This case study describes the implementation of automated drug dispensing system and presents the preliminary results of automated pharmaceutical dispensing with robots (PillPick® and BoxPicker®, ©Swisslog Healthcare) at Hospital Sírio-Libanês, a private tertiary hospital in Brazil. Results: During the study period, between 2013 (pre-automation) and 2017 (post-automation) the number total of medication errors has not changed post-automation, but there was significant reduction in error in the dispensing phase with a relative risk of 0.84 (95% confidence interval: 0.70-0.99) withal a reduction in the numbers of returned items, breakages, and loss of medications, although that delivery times have increased.. Conclusion: The study results suggest that the use of robotic systems in the central pharmacy may improve hospital pharmacy management and generate only a few errors in dispensing pharmaceuticals.
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Benefits in cost savings were also described as a reduction in staffing costs.
“Benefits in cost savings were also described as a reduction in staffing costs [13,23,38,54,59,63].”
From Benefits and challenges associated with implementation and ongoing use of automated dispensing cabinet for medicines: A scoping review (2025) · cites this paper as [13]
The Results table reports that annual overtime pay fell from R$26,798.82 before automation to R$4,327.35 afterward, and the Discussion describes reduced overtime pay for the central pharmacy team. This supports a reduction in one staffing expense, but not a reduction in overall staffing costs; the table shows that the number of pharmacy professionals involved rose from 48 to 59. No page number is available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBagattini et al. described the benefits of streamlining medication selection with ADCs in reducing MAEs however also highlighted that prescribing and distribution errors persisted.
“Bagattini et al. described the benefits of streamlining medication selection with ADCs in reducing MAEs however also highlighted that prescribing and distribution errors persisted.13”
From Benefits and challenges associated with implementation and ongoing use of automated dispensing cabinet for medicines: A scoping review (2025) · cites this paper as [13]
The Results report a lower dispensing-error rate after automation and show that prescription and distribution errors still occurred in 2017. However, the Methods identify the intervention studied as central-pharmacy PillPick and BoxPicker robots, not automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs); the paper does not attribute its findings to streamlined medication selection with ADCs. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBagattini et al. observed direct cost saving from reduced overtime payment for central pharmacy team.
“Bagattini et al. observed direct cost saving from reduced overtime payment for central pharmacy team.13”
From Benefits and challenges associated with implementation and ongoing use of automated dispensing cabinet for medicines: A scoping review (2025) · cites this paper as [13]
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Research works printed but not linked: 14
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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
- Authors
- Bagattini, Â. M., Borges, J. L. A., Riera, R., & de Carvalho, D. C. M. F.
- Affiliations
- Hospital Sírio-Libanês (BR)
- Corresponding author
- Bagattini, Ângela Maria
- Venue
- Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-06
- Volume
- 6
- Pages
- 100151
- ISSN
- 2667-2766 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9234249
- OpenAlex
- W4282013632
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 2.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy (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)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Pharmacology › Pharmacy and Medical Practices
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Patient Safety and Medication Errors
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Safe Handling of Antineoplastic Drugs
- Keywords
- automated drug dispensing, hospital pharmacy, medication errors, tertiary care hospital, lower-middle-income countries
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