7 Healthcast: Pharmacy Robots

It may sound like science fiction, but it;s true! Robots are taking over at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Bill Churchill, Executive Director of the pharmacy at Brigham and Women's Hospital
"The robots have been brought in to help us reduce safety risks and reduce costs in a variety of ways."

The robots have been put to work in the hospital's pharmacy.

Bill Churchill, Executive Director of the pharmacy at Brigham and Women's Hospital
"Our robot program is desgined to have three different kinds of robots within the mix, and each has a different role."

The IntelliFill robot prepares doses of different drugs and also works as a high-speed syringe filler.

Bill Churchill, Executive Director of the pharmacy at Brigham and Women's Hospital
"It can produce 300-400 syringes an hour, whereas a pharmacy technician would hard pressed to do that for perhaps a half an hour."

Then, there's the IV station robot.

Bill Churchill, Executive Director of the pharmacy at Brigham and Women's Hospital
"We have the IV station robot, which is used to make IV drugs, syringes and IV bags."

The third and most powerful, the Cydacare robot, prepares the medication for patients fighting cancer.

Bill Churchill, Executive Director of the pharmacy at Brigham and Women's Hospital
"As you can probably imagine, chemotherapy drugs can be sensitizing, and using this robot helps prevent exposure to those drugs by the people that prepare them."

Bill Churchill, Executive Director of the pharmacy at Brigham and Women's Hospital 
"So having the robot do this in a secure and sterile environment and not exposing our staff is a good thing for them."

The hospital says that these robots are not only efficient, but also cost effective!

Caryn belisle, pharmacy supervisor
"By bringing in these robots which can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without vacation time or time off, we can reduce our costs significantly to the extent that we're going to lower our cost for IV drug therapy by $1 million."

But don't worry, the pharmacy still has the human touch, and pharmacy staffers say that they don't mind sharing the workload with robots.

Caryn Belisle, pharmacy supervisor
"I can sleep better at night knowing that my staff has minimal exposure to toxic chemical agents and [it] gives me great peace of mind having the Cydocare robot here."

And at the end of the day, the hospital says, it's the patients that benefit the most.

Bill Churchill, Executive Director of the pharmacy at Brigham and Women's Hospital 
"I think its a win-win for everyone here, especially the patient."

Learn more about the role of robots in the pharmacy and how they are improving safety and advancing treatment for patients at this year's free Health & Fitness Expo on June 12 and 13 at the Hynes Convention Center.

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