The Benefits of Pharmacy Workstations

As an independent pharmacist, you know that keeping administrative and medication errors to a minimum is central to your patients' safety and to your success. Although careful attention to detail is a must, one of the easiest ways to do this is by automating processes as much as possible. Pharmacy workstation technology can help you do just that.

How automated pharmacy workstation technology can make you more accurate and efficient

Automated pharmacy workstation technology can:

• Reduce medication errors

If you have avoided using pharmacy automation because you think it is going to increase error rates, think again. These technologies can in fact improve your accuracy. In addition, while the technology was previously not cost effective for smaller pharmacies, costs have come down and accuracy improved so that now, they are a viable asset to independent pharmacists in their pharmacy workstations.

• Eliminate cross-contamination

Robots can count many prescriptions at the same time and dispense them into the correct files automatically. Both air quality and cross contamination concerns are avoided, because robots no longer use compressed air. Now, they use vacuum technology.

• Eliminate downtime

Pharmacy workstation use becomes much more efficient because you can stock inventory with just a few keystrokes and have robots filling prescriptions at the same time so that there is no downtime. Robots can be connected with any pharmacy management system, so that workstations become seamlessly efficient and productive.

• Reduce the incidence of theft

Narcotic medications like OxyContin and other controlled substances are constant targets of theft. This puts you, your staff, your patients and your profits at risk. Pharmacy workstations that can be made secure mean that you can carefully control who gets access to medications.

• Make staff more productive

When you integrate pharmacy workstations with automation technologies, your staff, too, can become more efficient because they spend less time doing tasks like manual dispensing. Let automation technologies do rote tasks like counting out tablets to fill prescription vials, and then affixing labels to those vials. Instead, your staff can spend more time working with patients one-on-one – and of course, reduce medication errors at the same time.

PHI security measures for pharmacy workstations are now required by law

With the advent of HIPAA regulations that took effect in September of 2013, all patient health information (PHI) must now be protected from unauthorized access. Any informational breach that occurs has to be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services unless the privacy rule allows it; previously, this only had to be done if it posed a significant risk to the affected individual.

Any centralized pharmacy workstation must now have strict protocols and controls in place that restrict personnel access to hardware and media that store PHI. Access to those workstations must now also be strictly controlled by using secure authentication measures with every login and by specifying policies as to when those workstations can be accessed. Any portable devices that can be used to access PHI, like laptops, must now be assigned strict protocols as to how they can be reused, eliminated, or moved.

Pharmacy workstations today can incorporate new technologies that improve accuracy and reduce contamination and theft. Workstations must now also be more secure. HIPAA regulations that took effect in September 2013 require that any workstations used to store or access patients' PHI be kept under strict protocols.

Automation can take over many of the rote tasks you once performed, allowing you and staff to spend more time with your patients. Not only more efficient, this technology makes filling prescriptions more accurate and less prone to contamination as well – and that makes your job easier.