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MANUAL COUNTING IN CONNECTION WITH THE MIXING OF INTRAVENOUS ANTIBIOTICS IS NOW BEING REPLACED BY A SOFTWARE ROBOT

European Statement

Selection, Procurement and Distribution

Author(s)

Michelle Ann Matzen, Linda Jeffery, Mette Juul-Gregersen, Bente Jonassen, Lene Juhl Biltsted

Why was it done?

At the regional hospitals in Horsens and Randers, the pharmacy helps mix selected intravenous (IV) antibiotics for patients admitted to inpatient wards (piperacillin/tazobactam, cefuroxime, and cloxacillin).
The mixing takes place centrally and is then distributed to the relevant wards.
Our electronic prescribing system does not help us to identify which/how many patients require these antibiotics so the number of prescriptions for each ward was manually counted before the mixing process.
To reduce medication waste, the manual counting was done every morning and noon, with an estimated time consumption of about 1 hour per day per location.
The goal was to move away from manual counting and towards an automated solution.

What was done?

The pharmacy assists wards in mixing IV antibiotics. There was a desire to digitize and streamline the workflow through development of a software robot.

How was it done?

The pharmacy assembled a team from two locations and reached out to the region’s robotic process automation (RPA) developers.
The pharmacy set requirements and expectations for the RPA solution with the developers.
Throughout the development, the programming was revised and adjusted several times to obtain the most accurate prescription data.
To verify the robot’s counting, manual counts were conducted multiple times during the process, leading to adjustments in the robot’s programming.

The development of the RPA solution spanned 9 months.

What has been achieved?

The fully developed RPA solution is now used at both locations. A report is emailed twice a day, after which antibiotics are mixed and distributed to the relevant wards.
Benefits:
• Frees up time for other tasks
• Data is more up-to-date regarding changes in patients’ medications
• Medication waste is minimized

What next?

There are plans to create a similar setup for a central mixing unit at Aarhus University Hospital, where the RPA solution can be implemented from the start.
There is potential for the RPA solution to be used at other locations/departments, with different medications. For example, monitoring of inhalation preparations or anticoagulant medications.

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