Page 40 - Implementing ITU-T International Standards to Shape Smart Sustainable Cities: The Case of Singapore

Implementing ITU-T International Standards to Shape Smart Sustainable Cities –
The Case of Singapore

Figure 11 – Outpatient Pharmacy Automation System (OPAS)

In Robotics, the Outpatient Pharmacy Automation System (OPAS) enables pharmacies to handle
high prescription loads safely and efficiently. It uses a combination of multi-disciplinary
technologies, such as robot machines, bottle-dispensing machines, conveyor assembly, LED,
barcode and RFID to automate the prescription filling process and improves manual picking
accuracy for certain drugs. The system enables pharmacists to focus on reviewing the
prescriptions, and has eliminated medication packing errors, significantly enhancing patient
safety. By leveraging technology to automate the labour-intensive, tedious prescription filling
process, OPAS has played an important role in helping our limited pool of skilled health-care
staff improve their productivity and deliver quality care sustainably.

The Inpatient Pharmacy Automation System (IPAS) consists of drug packing machines,
Automatic Dispensing Carts (ADCs) and medication carts that were fully integrated with
Electronic Medical Record (EMR) to achieve closed loop medication management (CLMM). Each
drawer of the medication carts is assigned to a patient upon barcoding the patient’s wristband;
the correct drawer will be opened up for nurse to serve medication. With IPAS, the “5 Rights”
are met - Right Drug, Right Route, Right Dose, Right Patient and Right Time.

Figure 12 – Automated Guided Vehicles

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