Hospital Robot Tracks Controlled Substances, High-Value Meds

As tagged items are placed in the dedicated drawer, the reader captures each ID number and links that medication with the specific robot, along with the unit to which it is destined (this information is input by the pharmaceutical staff). The worker who places those items in the Tug must first enter a password or present his or her thumbprint to the biometric reader on the Tug, thus linking that individual with that order.

The Tug then carries the items to the receiving units. Upon arriving at a unit, the robot transmits notification of its location to the Aethon software via a Wi-Fi signal. The software then displays an alert on a computer monitor used by the staff working in that unit, indicating the Tug has arrived. If there is an item in the dedicated drawer destined for that unit, a blue light is illuminated on the Tug. An employee retrieving the drugs must then enter a password, or present his or her thumbprint to the robot's biometric scanner, which allows access to the dedicated drawer, as well as to the unit drawer containing non-tagged items.

Deb Templeton, Geisinger's VP of supply chain services

As a staff member removes a drug from the dedicated drawer, the reader ceases to capture that item's ID number, Jones says, and the status of that item is updated in the software, indicating it has been received at the unit, as well as which individual received it.

Although the robots are technology-agnostic, says Aldo Zini, Aethon's president and CEO, the Tugs in use by Geisinger have Alien Technology RFID readers installed in them.

Since the RFID system was installed, the hospital calculates that it is now 40 to 50 percent more cost-effective than with human labor, says Deb Templeton, Geisinger's VP of supply chain services. "We put together monthly metrics of the successful trips of the Tug units," she explains, "and how that compares to the use of our staff."

The primary advantage is seen in the evenings, Jones says, when fewer workers are on duty—or for instances when nurses may require medication from the pharmacy, but no employees are available to walk to and from the pharmacy to retrieve or deliver it. Instead, loading the Tug robot and sending it to the unit takes only a matter of minutes.

To date, Templeton says, the total number of deliveries of the RFID-enabled Tugs since Dec. 1, 2009, is 49,435, with a total number of 3,400 miles traveled. The RFID-enabled Tugs travel an average of 3.1 miles daily, with an average of 30.9 deliveries. The longest destination point from the pharmacy is 1,400 feet.