Andalusia has patented an intelligent system for dispensing medicines and consumables in hospitals, under the trade name Ipharma, which has been developed by researchers at the Hospital of Granada, the Institute of biomedical research of Granada (ibs.Granada) and Andalusian spin off Naranjo Intelligent Solutions (NIS). This technological solution R & D + i is “a step forward in terms of safety and efficiency in the administration of drugs to patients”, as stated by the Healthcare counsellor, Aquilino Alonso during his visit to the Pharmacy Unit of Hospital San Cecilio, which has driven the innovative model.
This system, based on artificial intelligence, allows a better distribution and management control of medicines in hospitals, which is one of the key processes in hospital pharmacy services, as it’s required to follow a procedure of optimum efficiency to ensure that each patient receives the correct drug in the prescribed dose, the appropriate route and at the right time.
To do this, iPharma consists of some electronic devices that are placed in the boxes of medication of patients, and software that uses artificial intelligence. From the prescription, the system identifies both the drug and the patient that should receive it, and the pharmacy technician receives an audio order that indicates the number of doses needed. This information is recorded electronically and computerizes a process that, until now, was performed manually.
During 2015, the new system has been tried in the Unit of Internal Medicine of the University Hospital Complex of Granada and, throughout this trial, has been found that the system minimizes dispensing errors and increases patient safety by computerizing the process and preventing the medication from being deposited in a wrong location. In addition, says the Healthcare Counsellor, it optimizes the time of preparation of drugs unidose carts; and improves ergonomics in the workplace as the validation is performed at the same time that medication is deposited.
It also has been verified that the new technology facilitates the replacement of the drugs since the hospital pharmacy service is aware of the amount and the time when a drug must be restocked, allowing for continuous monitoring of stock and avoiding the lack of a particular drug. Additionaly, the integration with the Integrated Logistics System of the Logistics Healthcare Platform of the Andalusian Healthcare Service (SAS) allows intelligent order management.
Another advantage is that professionals gain agility in the process of preparation of medicines, since the time spent doing dispensing tasks is reduced.
All this has a favorable effect on a decrease in costs arising from errors in dispensing, administration and breakage of stock of medicines.
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