Drug bot delivers big benefit
Pharmacists are celebrating the largest robotic drug dispensary in the southern hemisphere.
Perth's Fiona Stanley Hospital is home to Rowa – a $7 million robotic system that dispenses combinations of over 3000 unique drugs each day to more than 100 treatment areas throughout the hospital.
The robots can scan, move and store $200,000 worth of drugs every day.
Pharmacist Ken Tam says the robotic system is safer and more efficient than humans.
But as AI and automation put more and more jobs at risk, some are concerned that people are being put out of work.
Mr Tam said all previous pharmacy staff have been re-deployed and allowed to more time to spend on patient care.
The robots have also been responsible for a 70 per cent reduction in the number of times that the hospital's stock had run out.
“A re-supply of medication manually to a ward would normally take half an hour to physically collect all the stock,” Mr Tam said.
“But with the new system, that can be done in under 10 minutes per ward.”
Mr Tam said the robots read the barcodes on medication, eliminating the chance of human error.