The Pharmabot
For only $15 million, a robot can fill your prescriptions. A hospital at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center has implemented the system and finds it useful. How it works is a doctor writes out an electronic prescription. At the pharmacy, a robotic arm picks out the correct medicine and then sorts and dispenses it into little packets. The packets are then grouped together into little rings, with one ring for each patient.
The error rate of the robot pharmacist is close to 0 percent, compared with a human error rate of 2.8 percent. And while this robot is taking jobs, it’s also allowing humans to do more. The pharmacy would’ve had to hire more workers, according to the director of the hospital’s pharmacy, so the robot is taking the jobs of people who might’ve been hired. However, the pharmacists and pharmacy techs that were already working at the pharmacy now spend more of their time consulting with physicians and patients, rather than counting out pills.
The hospital also boats a fleet of robots that deliver prescriptions, food, and linens, saving nurses time.
