Evaluating the safety and efficiency of robotic dispensing systems

Table 2 Incidence of dispensing errors before and after introducing the robotic dispensing system

	Period 1	Period 2		Period 3
	Number (%)	Number (%)	p-values vs Period 1	Number (%)	p-values vs Period 1	p-values vs Period 2
Prescribed medications	158,548 (100%)	106,611 (100%)		114,111 (100%)
Prevented dispensing errors
Wrong quantity	170 (0.107%)	28 (0.026%)	< 0.001*	32 (0.028%)	< 0.001*	0.897
Wrong strength	83 (0.052%)	3 (0.003%)	< 0.001*	0 (0%)	< 0.001*	0.113
Wrong drug	39 (0.025%)	5 (0.005%)	< 0.001*	1 (0.001%)	< 0.001*	0.113
Wrong dosage form	16 (0.010%)	0 (0%)	< 0.001*	0 (0%)	< 0.001*	NA
Others	16 (0.010%)	22 (0.021%)	0.031	17 (0.015%)	0.292	0.339
TOTAL	324 (0.204%)	58 (0.054%)	< 0.001*	50 (0.044%)	< 0.001*	0.290
Unprevented dispensing errors
Wrong quantity	12 (0.008%)	3 (0.003%)	0.123	0 (0%)	0.002*	0.113
Wrong strength	1 (0.001%)	0 (0%)	1.000	0 (0%)	1.000	NA
Wrong drug	4 (0.003%)	0 (0%)	0.154	0 (0%)	0.145	NA
Wrong dosage form	2 (0.001%)	0 (0%)	0.519	0 (0%)	0.513	NA
Others	5 (0.003%)	2 (0.002%)	0.709	2 (0.002%)	0.707	1.000
TOTAL	24 (0.015%)	5 (0.005%)	0.013*	2 (0.002%)	< 0.001*	0.274

The prevented dispensing errors were detected by pharmacists before the medicines were provided from the pharmacy to clinical wards or to outpatients. By contrast, unprevented dispensing errors indicates errors detected by other medical staff or patients after the medicines were provided from the pharmacy to clinical wards or to outpatients. The incidences of prevented and unprevented dispensing errors among three periods of trial are displayed. Period 1 (between March 2020 and August 2020) is the period before introducing the robotic dispensing system, period 2 (between March 2021 and May 2021) indicates the early phase after introducing the robotic dispensing system, and period 3 (between June 2021 and August 2021) indicates the collaborative phase after introducing the robotic dispensing system. The incidences were presented as the number of errors divided by the numbers of total medication orders in each prescription
Abbreviation: NA Not applicable
^* Statistically significant after adjustment using the Bonferroni correction (p < 0.0167 for Fisher's exact test)

ISSN: 2055-0294