Robotic Pharmacist Streamlines Drug Dispensing

November 2005    

The pharmacy team at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital recently acquired a new colleague. And unlike his human counterparts, he can work 24 hours a day and seven days a week without ever taking a break.  

Otto D. Spencer (formerly known as Robot-RX) is a room-size, stationary robotic system that automatically fills drug prescriptions after verification by the pharmacist. It takes up approximately 144 square feet in the SBCH pharmacy department with 700 pegs holding up to 25,000 single doses. The hospital fills approximately one million prescriptions per year, so Otto can be a tremendous help in ensuring accuracy and safety.

With the acquisition, SBCH is only one of approximately six hospitals in California -- and one of only about 300 nationwide -- to operate such an in-house system. The robot frees up pharmacists to spend more time advising physicians, staff and employees about drug and drug interactions and reduces pharmacy costs through increased speed and efficiency.  

Otto D. Spencer received his new name in a contest open to all Cottage Health System employees. Robert Bates, who works in the radiology department at Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital, came up with the winning name.  

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