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November 24, 2014
For Immediate Release
NEWS RELEASE
Fast Medication Dispensing System For Patients At Specialist Clinics And
Polyclinics Win First Runner-Up National Infocomm Award
Singapore, November 24, 2014 – One of the world's fastest high capacity medication
dispensing systems today won the first runner-up, National Infocomm Award for Most
Innovative Use of Infocomm Technology in the Public Sector.
The Outpatient Pharmacy Automation System (OPAS) was developed by National University
Hospital (NUH), Tan Tock Seng Hospital, NHG Pharmacy and Integrated Health Information
Systems (IHiS), the Health Ministry's IT arm, to handle surging patient volumes.
The system achieves breakthrough speeds in filling prescriptions and halves patient waiting
times, by integrating latest technologies and robotics from various industries worldwide and
revamping pharmacy processes.
This includes becoming the region's first to combine different packaging machines for drugs
in blister packs, boxes and loose form into one system, and to use robotic armatures from the
Swiss car manufacturing industry in healthcare.
The biennial National Infocomm Awards, organised by the Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore (IDA) and Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), is
Singapore's highest recognition for infocomm innovation.
Mr Wu Tuck Seng, Deputy Director at NUH’s Department of Pharmacy, said: "Once fully
implemented by the end of next year, OPAS will reduce unnecessary wait and shorten patient
waiting times by 50 per cent at the specialist clinics and polyclinics. Over 2.46 million
outpatient visits a year will benefit from this.
"One of the most highly automated pharmacy systems worldwide, OPAS reduces human
errors, and frees up staff time to provide more patient medication counselling and
prescription reviews. This further enhances patient safety."
Dr Pauline Yong, TTSH’s Operations Director, said: "OPAS has enabled a quantum leap in
our capacity to handle high prescription volumes safely and cost effectively. Pharmacy staff
can now be stationed at the specialist clinics, instead of pharmacy, to review medication with
patients and make changes before the drugs are packed. This substantially reduces rework,
saving $5.8 million a year.
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"Across the three institutions, the higher automation enables $2.4 million manpower savings
annually. Staff can now be redeployed to higher value-added areas, increasing their job
satisfaction and lowering employee turnover costs."
Dr Chong Yoke Sin, IHiS' Chief Executive Officer, said: "OPAS reduces reliance on
manpower, and enables the pharmacies to more easily increase capacity to meet rising
demand as Singapore ages. We plan to help roll out OPAS at more healthcare institutions, to
benefit more patients.
"The system harmonises three institutions' complex processes into one synergised workflow,
and is future proofed to be interoperable with different robotics and hospital systems. This
will reduce future healthcare costs."
Sourcing technologies worldwide
To achieve the fast, accurate and high throughput rates, NUH, TTSH, NHG Pharmacy and
IHiS sourced for the most efficient technologies and components worldwide.
They then custom developed the software to integrate the system components and redesigned
the entire medication order filling and dispensing process, from the time medication is
ordered to when it is ready for collection.
OPAS uses the high speed Rowa Vmax medication dispensing machine from Germany, and
Parata loose tablet dispensing robot from US which gives one of the world's highest
dispensing accuracy rates.
Industrial robot armatures from the car industry in Switzerland, were customised to assemble
medication totes. The institutions also assembled a barcode-enabled conveyor system to
quickly move medication totes, and an LED light guided manual picking system adapted
from the manufacturing industry.
RFID-enabled shelving and barcode readers using High Frequency (HF) technology were
also installed to detect each tote's location on the shelf, allowing for faster assembly and
identification of patient medication.
Transforming Medication Dispensing
OPAS' automated and systematic workflows transform the way medication is prepared, and
significantly improve the efficiency and speed of medication dispensing.
Today, pharmacy staff at the specialist clinics review with patients their prescriptions, and
then trigger the system to fill the medication order. As a result, patients' medication are ready
or nearly ready for collection by the time the patients walk from the clinic to the pharmacy.
OPAS has automated 80% of the medication dispensing workflow. For medicines that need
manual picking, coloured LED lights on shelves guide staff to pick the required medication,
speeding up manual picking.
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All drugs are then placed in totes which move via the barcode-enabled conveyor. Robotic
armatures pick and store the totes on shelves behind the front dispensing counters. The
correct drugs are ensured via 2D barcodes, and right totes via RFID.
At the dispensing counter, pharmacists just need to reach for the ready totes, and proceed
with patient and drug verification and medication counselling.
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Chinese Names
National University Hospital (NUH)
Department of Pharmacy, Deputy Director,
Wu Tuck Seng
国大医院,药剂部副主任,
吴德成
Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), Director
(Operations), Dr Pauline Yong 陈笃生医院,营运(临床支援及卫生信息服
务)主任,楊宝琳
National Healthcare Group Pharmacy
国立健保集团药房
Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS)
Chief Executive Officer, Dr Chong Yoke Sin 綜合保健信息系統公司总裁,
钟玉璇博士
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The release is jointly issued by National University Hospital (NUH), Tan Tock Seng Hospital
(TTSH), NHG Pharmacy and Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS).
For more information, please contact:
NUH TTSH NHG (for NHG
Pharmacy)
IHiS
Tian Zhiyuan Jacquelyn Tan Tania Tan Ida Lim
DID: 6772 4693
Mobile: 9877 0832
DID: 6357 8415
Mobile: 8126 6082
DID: 6496 6267
Mobile: 9692 2887
DID: 6594 1697
Mobile: 9106 3782
zhiyuan_tian@nuhs.
edu.sg
Jacquelyn_lx_tan@
ttsh.com.sg
m.sg
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About National University Hospital (NUH)
NUH is a tertiary hospital and major referral centre for a comprehensive range of medical,
surgical and dental specialties including Cardiology, Gastroenterology and Hepatology,
Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Paediatrics, Orthopaedic Surgery
and Hand and Reconstructive Microsurgery. The Hospital also provides organ transplant
programmes for adults (in kidney, liver and pancreas) and is the only public hospital in
Singapore to offer a paediatric kidney and liver transplant programme.
Staffed by a team of healthcare professionals who rank among the best in the field, NUH
offers quality patient care by embracing innovations and advances in medical treatment.
In 2004, NUH became the first Singapore hospital to receive the Joint Commission
International (JCI) accreditation, an international stamp for excellent clinical practices in
patient care and safety. Today, patient safety and good clinical outcomes remain the focus of
the hospital as it continues to play a key role in the training of doctors, nurses and allied
health professionals, and in translational research which paves the way for new cures and
treatment, offering patients hope and a new lease of life.
A member of the National University Health System, it is the principal teaching hospital of
the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the NUS Faculty of Dentistry. For more
information, please visit www.nuh.com.sg
About Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH)
TTSH is one of Singapore’s largest multi-disciplinary hospitals with more than 160 years of
pioneering medical care and development. The hospital has 36 clinical and allied health
departments, 15 specialist centres and is powered by more than 6,000 healthcare staff.
TTSH sees over 2,000 patients at its specialist clinics and some 460 patients at its emergency
department every day. TTSH is part of National Healthcare Group, providing holistic and
integrated patient care. With a strong quality culture steeped in patient safety, TTSH
constantly challenges itself to provide faster, better, cheaper and safer care for patients.
To achieve this, the hospital keeps abreast and believes in investing in its staff, facilities,
medical technology and system improvements. In recognition of its commitment to excellent
patient care and its comprehensive range of quality healthcare services, TTSH has been
awarded the ISO 9001 certification and the prestigious Joint Commission International (JCI)
accreditation. www.ttsh.com.sg
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About National Healthcare Group Pharmacy
NHG Pharmacy, a business unit of National Healthcare Group, manages the pharmacy
services and retail pharmacies at all NHG Polyclinics. It aims to support its customers to
achieve the best results for their prescribed therapy, and promote the safe and responsible use
of medication.
At the nine NHG Polyclinics, NHG Pharmacy works collaboratively with the physicians and
other healthcare professionals to manage the patients with chronic illnesses. Patients also
regularly consult the pharmacists for treatment of their minor ailments.
About Integrated Health Information Systems (IHiS)
IHiS is a healthcare-IT leader, transforming patient care through excellence in technology.
Managing highly integrated systems across Singapore’s public healthcare sector, its IT
professionals support about 40,000 healthcare staff at all public hospitals, national specialty
centres and polyclinics.
IHiS architects and oversees the performance of the clinical, business and healthcare
analytics systems of the healthcare institutions. It played a key role in six Singapore hospitals
becoming among the first public institutions in the Asia Pacific region to achieve HIMSS
EMRAM Stage 6, an international benchmark for advanced technology used to in patient
care.
IHiS is at the forefront of innovation, driving new standards in quality care. www.ihis.com.sg
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Photos
Outpatient Pharmacy Automation System (OPAS)
OPAS comprises multi-disciplinary technologies such as robotic arms, medication picking
robots, conveyors, LED, barcodes and RFID, to automate fast prescription filling.
Robots automatically pick and
dispense box-packaged
medication.
The Smart Conveyor System
moves medication totes
quickly.
Robotic arms pick and place
correct totes on shelves
behind the front dispensing
counters.
To download high res images, go to:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mvilapxby75ukui/AABnKuAeXVp0t5RLxZJpuNtOa?dl=0
Receiving Patients
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Outpatient Pharmacy Automation System (OPAS) – Fact Sheet
OPAS comprises components from:
1. Germany
Box-automated dispensing machines (ROWA): Rowa is an award-winning box picking
machine from Germany (it won the Red Dot design) with a high accuracy rate of 99.96%.
TTSH, NUH and NHG Pharmacy are the first to install Rowa Vmax model in South East
Asia.
2. United States
A high speed loose tablet automated dispensing machine (PARATA): Based in US,
Parata is the only loose tablet robot that is able to cap vials and is the fastest among its
competitors. It also has a high accuracy rate of 99.99%. The Parata Max at TTSH, NUH
and NHG Pharmacy are the first ones to be supplied out of US.
3. Switzerland
Industrial robot armatures (used in car manufacturing industries) to accurately pick
and store medication totes: The robotic arms are used in mass production industries
requiring precision assembly. They are customised for OPAS and are used for the
assembly process of medication totes. This is the first time they are being used in
healthcare.
4. Singapore
A barcode-enabled conveyor system to quickly move medication totes from point to
point: This Singapore-assembled conveyor uses customised parts from China.
Guided picking of manually selected items via pick-to-light LED: The custom-made
LED lights, with parts from China and Thailand, have four different light colours fitted
into the manual picking shelves. These enable pharmacy staff to pick the medication for
four patients accurately at the same time.
RFID-enabled capabilities: The RFID-enabled shelving and RFID barcode readers
use High Frequency (HF) technology that detect each tote’s location on the shelf, allowing
for faster and easier assembly and identification of patient’s medication.
At the system’s nerve centre is an integrated intelligent software developed by NCS that
coordinates ROWA and PARATA, and orchestrates the entire process from the time
medication is ordered to when it is ready for collection.
