Pharmaceutical Automation Alleviates Burnout

December 07, 2022 - The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy states that, as of 2016, approximately 61.2% of hospital pharmacists were burnt out. The burnout rate across all pharmacists continued to increase, with 71% of pharmacists in 2019 expressing that they had a high or excessive workload, according to an article in Drug Topics. Many solutions have been proposed for minimizing the risk of burnout and alleviating the burdens contributing to burnout, one of which is pharmaceutical automation.

Brief Overview of Pharmaceutical Burnout

Feelings of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced feelings of personal accomplishment define burnout. In the pharmaceutical industry, burnout can be attributed to unfavorable working conditions such as long hours, harassment, patient demands, staffing shortages, and insurance barriers or reimbursement issues — which often contribute to pharmacists taking additional hours to compensate for financial losses.

Burnout in this industry can be fatal to the person experiencing burnout and their patients, leading to medical errors, poorer care, and adverse outcomes. Pharmacist burnout is associated with anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts, which can contribute to the worsened quality of care.

Although there are several suggested solutions for addressing burnout, a promising suggestion is digitizing the workflow in pharmacies to reduce staffing burdens. Digitizing workflows and automating other aspects of the industry may alleviate high workloads and allow pharmacists more time to complete the more fulfilling aspects of their job, like medication counseling, rather than the more tedious or administrative tasks.

Pharmaceutical Automation

Considering the current demand for pharmacists — in the hospital, community settings, and manufacturing facilities — finding ways to automate specific pharmaceutical tasks can alleviate the burden on the industry and allow for the delivery of fast and effective healthcare.

According to a projection by Meticulous Research in May 2022, the pharmaceutical automation market is anticipated to grow to $18.2 billion by 2029.

John and Frank Kirby invented the first portable and digital pill counter in the late 1960s or early 1970s; the exact date is unknown. Early in pharmacy automation, the machines were inaccessible due to high costs. Over time, machines became more affordable and user-friendly, making them more accessible to individual pharmacists.

Since the original invention, iterations of this automation form have improved speed and accuracy. The next significant pharmaceutical automation wave was in 2008 when dispensing and packaging tools were developed.

Areas for Pharmaceutical Automation

Pharmaceutical companies have introduced automation in multiple aspects, such as drug development, serialization, anti-counterfeiting, kit assembly, sortation, machine tending, and packaging.

Areas for pharmaceutical automation may also include processing systems, liquid dosing, tablet compression and coating, encapsulation, RFID labeling, tracking and traceability, drug delivery systems, filling, inspection, packing, and conveyer and sortation systems.

Dispensing medications is one main form of accessible automation. According to Rx Safe, dispensing medications can be a challenging aspect of pharmacy as it is associated with larger margins of error and contamination. Some machines may also dispense medications in convenient packages.

According to an article in Drug Topics, “dispensing robots never get bored, never get distracted, and make far fewer mistakes than their human counterparts. And in this era of ever-shrinking prescription margins, dispensing robots free up pharmacists and technicians for more profitable clinical services that require human judgment.”

Benefits of Pharmaceutical Automation

The benefits of automation are plentiful. Of the most obvious benefits, there is improved efficacy. Robotic integration can complete repetitive tasks faster than human counterparts. It allows companies to manufacture for longer hours, such as 24-hour production cycles.

In addition to efficacy, automated equipment significantly reduces the risk of human error. Rather than having pharmacists or workers learn and practice filling, weighing, blending, and more, the machine can automate it. Barring incorrect programming or malfunction, the device can repeatedly do the task without error or breaks.

Drug Topics highlights a case study where Tom Gierwatoski, RPh, installed a dispensing robot in his pharmacy in 2016. Data from the article suggests that this form of automation boosted prescription volume by 50%.

Automation also allows the company to track any issues, inaccuracies, or inefficiencies in the procedure. Visibility of issues will improve a company’s ability to correct them and mitigate supply chain issues.

Robotic integration may also improve the company’s analytic abilities. According to Precision Automatic, “advanced data analytics can be used to identify market trends and facilitate accurate forecasting. Analytics can also be implemented to improve processes and predict the effectiveness of potential changes.”

Another benefit of automation is the ability to reduce contamination. Reduced human interaction leaves less vulnerability to contamination.

Finally, Precision Automation notes that automation provides a greater return on investment, saying, “automated systems provide energy savings, improved product quality, and faster production. These positive impacts on the bottom line ensure that the upfront costs of automation technology will be returned exponentially over the service life of the equipment.”

In the Drug Topics article, Bill Lockwood, executive director of the American Society for Automation in Pharmacy in 2019, notes that pharmacy automation is beneficial and cost-effective for pharmacies dispensing as little as 150 prescriptions per day.

Approaching Pharmaceutical Automation

Automation in other work sectors may be criticized for reducing the number of workers, affecting the job market, and causing layoffs. However, in the pharmaceutical industry, where facilities are already understaffed and pharmacists are overworked, automation allows for a reallocation of personnel.

An article published by Pharmacy Mentor notes that automation in pharmacy is more complex than replacing all pharmacy steps with robots. The approach is more nuanced and involves bringing in robots or automating repetitive tasks. These tasks — otherwise completed by human workers — may have a more considerable margin of error.

The article says, “that means the staff trained for patient care are now released from the shackles of these administrative tasks. Rather than redundant, they’re released for valuable tasks instead of functional tasks.”

Automation is not a replacement for pharmacists. A pharmacist’s role requires effort and empathy that a machine cannot deliver. The medical judgment, expertise, and experience of pharmacists are irreplaceable. When considering how to implement automation, pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies must consider how to save money and time without losing other aspects of patient care, such as empathy, personability, and communication.

In an article by Precision Automation, the company states, “for businesses that fail to employ these technologies, the introduction of new pharmaceutical products may take years instead of weeks, and they will likely fall behind in their competition. Companies that grasp these initiatives and implement solutions stand to gain the largest advantage, allowing them to operate faster, more cost-efficient, and fully compliant.”