Abstract:
 

The term "automation" identifies a technology process that utilizes control systems to manage machines and processes, lowering the need of human intervention.  Automation is put in place to assure repetitive or complex operations, but also when safety and certainty of actions are foreseen.

The hospital pharmacy is a complex environment where many delicate processes are put in place: they range supplying/distributing health care products to complex compounding.

In the last few years, the possibility of automating these processes has increased in different hospital Pharmacy domains. The hospital pharmacist is involved in the decision making process of choosing to implement automations or not. He often feels lost. How to determine the return of investments, the optimal technological configuration and the resources needed?

Business process modelling methodology can be used for structuring, designing, standardizing, evaluating and automatizing. Its application in the context of the medication-use process allows: the modelling of processes at various levels of details, the structuring of the processes in reusable units to facilitate changes in processes’ execution, the implementation of the processes to ensure their automation and their simulation under constraints. Eventually, it could assist the pharmacist to take the right decisions when considering implementing robot systems. It is an engineer approach.

The seminar will deepen the application of automation in different processes in the hospital pharmacy, from distribution to compounding and will demonstrate the evidence of business process modelling methodology.

Teaching goals:

• describe the primary processes where automation can be applied in the pharmacy
• describe the basic terms of conducting a return of investment analysis on new technologies in the pharmacy
• describe the application of automation in the major areas of activities in the hospital pharmacy
• demonstrate the evidence of collaborating with engineers

Learning objectives:

After the presentation the participant should:

• become familiar with the range of new technologies to be applied in the hospital pharmacy
• to identify pros and cons to be evaluated before the implementation of a new technology
• understand the importance of Business process modelling
• to deepen the application of new technologies in the distribution and production processes.