SynthesisEuropean journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice2021
Automation of in-hospital pharmacy dispensing: a systematic review.
Synthesis in European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Digital Technologies in Hospital Pharmacy: A Systematic Review of Their Impact on Efficiency, Safety, and Inventory Management.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2026Pooled it
- Automated unit dose dispensing systems producing individually packaged and labelled drugs for inpatients: a systematic review.European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice · 2023Pooled it
- Impact of a Hospital Information System-Integrated Automated Dispensing Cabinet on Medication Use and Safety in a Tertiary Hospital Emergency Department: A Prospective Before-and-After Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Code-Based Versus AutoML Methods for Pill Recognition in Clinical Settings: Comparative Performance Study.JMIR medical informatics · 2026Article
- Factors affecting task shifting/sharing from physicians to pharmacists in cancer chemotherapy in Japan: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2026Article
- Implementing six sigma management to shorten the time of taking medicine from intelligent medicine cabinet in inpatient ward.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2025Article
- Analysis of the efficiency and effectiveness of technology transformation through the introduction of ADC in the Emergency Department: a Taiwanese case study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Article
- Benefits and challenges associated with implementation and ongoing use of automated dispensing cabinet for medicines: A scoping review.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of Pharmacy Automation Systems Versus Traditional Systems in Hospital Settings: A Systematic Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- Automated Dispensing Cabinet Stocking Schedule and Inventory Management Optimization.HCA healthcare journal of medicine · 2025Article
- Introducing Unit Dose Dispensing in a University Hospital - Effects on Medication Safety and Dispensing Time.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2025Article
- Article
- Comparing nursing medication rounds before and after implementation of automated dispensing cabinets: A time and motion study.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2024Article
- Enhancing Operational Efficiency and Service Delivery through a Robotic Dispensing System: A Case Study from a Retail Pharmacy in Brazil.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Automated dispensing cabinets and their impact on the rate of omitted and delayed doses: A systematic review.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2024Article
- Questionnaire survey on pharmacists' roles among non- and health care professionals in medium-sized cities in Japan.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The Need for Automated Drug Dispensing Systems (ADDS) at In-Patient Pharmacy Departments in Malaysia: A Brief Overview.Hospital pharmacy · 2023Article
- The Impact of Hospital Pharmacy Operation on the Quality of Patient Care.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Automatic dispensing cabinets and governance of controlled drugs: an exploratory study in an intensive care unit.European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe current systematic review (SR) was undertaken to identify and summarise the published literature reporting on the clinical and economic value of automated in-hospital pharmacy services with a primary focus on systems supporting the dispensing of medicines.
methodsLiterature searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase and the Cochrane Library on 17 December 2017 to identify English-language publications investigating any automated dispensing systems (ADSs) in the inpatient setting to include central pharmacy and ward-based systems.
results4320 publications were screened by title and abstract and 45 of 175 full publications screened were included. Grey literature searching identified an additional three publications. Therefore, 48 publications relating to ADSs were eligible for inclusion. Although a relatively large evidence base was identified as part of the current SR, the eligible studies were inconsistent in terms of their design and the format of reporting of outcomes. The studies demonstrate that both pharmacy and ward-based ADSs offer benefits over traditional manual dispensing methods in terms of clinical and economic outcomes. The primary benefits following implementation of an ADS include reductions in medication errors, medication administration time and costs. Studies examining optimisation/inventory management strategies/refill programmes for these systems suggest that optimal implementation of the ADS is required to ensure that clinical success and economic benefits are maximised.
conclusionsThe published evidence suggests positive impacts of ADS and should encourage hospitals to invest in automation, with a global strategy to improve the reliability and the efficiency of the medication process. However, one of the key findings of the current SR is the need for further data from adequately powered studies reporting clinically relevant outcomes which would allow for robust, evidence-based recommendations on the return on investment of the technologies. These studies would probably contribute to a larger adoption of these technologies by European hospitals.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.