Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
ERNIE The Robot Pharmacist - More Accurate Than Humans
A robot pharmacist named ERNIE dispenses more than 90 percent of Evergreen Hospital Medical Center's drugs. ERNIE has packaged nearly 400,000 doses in the past nine months and works twenty-four hours per day. And in that time, the number of medication errors reported by the hospital decreased by 25 percent.
ERNIE, which stands for "Evergreen Robot Noticeably Improving Efficiency", is leased for $3 million over seven years; the system includes twenty-two computerized drug dispensing cabinets. A large servo-driven arm sits in a 100 square-foot octagonal enclosure, rotating and grabbing packets of bar code-labelled doses. Lasers scan bar codes to determine the correct medication. If ERNIE does not recognize a bar code, the offending packet is placed in a reject bin. The packets of medication are triple-checked by pharmacists before being placed in the machine; Ernie prints the name of the patient onto their packets before providing them for delivery to the patient floor. Typically, a 24 hour supply is done at a given time.
Robots are increasingly playing a role in hospital pharmacies. The IntelliFill device is an automated pharmacy compounding device for IV drugs. It reads files from a database of orders, selects the drug, mixes it, places it in a syringe and labels the syringe with the patient's name and the drug name. The machine has a sterile, sealed environment and can provide doses with an accuracy rate of 0.6 microliters - much more precise than humans.
In his 1990 story Madness Has Its Place, Larry Niven refers to an autodoc, a robot physician, that could dispense medications when needed. Another story that offers an automated machine or robot to dispense medication is the revitalizer console from John Varley's 1983 novel Millenium.
Read more about Ernie the robot pharmacist.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/23/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
YES!! Remote Teleoperated Robots predicted by Technovelgy!
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
Will Robots Ever Fold Landry?
Where have you gone, Mrs. Robinson?
Cybertruck Robotic Arm F10 Drone Launch!
Drone away!
Will Robots Become Family Caregivers?
'The robant and the tiny old woman entered the control room slowly...' - Philip K. Dick, 1953.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Musk Idea Of Cars Talking To Each Other Predicted 70 Years Ago
'My cars talk to one another.'
Elegant Bivouac Shelter Produces Water And Electricity
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...'
X-Control Janus-1 A Suitcase Aircraft
'You will notice that it... fits the suitcase nicely.'
'AI Assistants' Are Actually Less Reliable For News
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...'
YES!! Remote Teleoperated Robots predicted by Technovelgy!
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
Will Robots Ever Fold Landry?
Where have you gone, Mrs. Robinson?
Will AIs Give Better Results If You're Rude To Them?
'I said, "Listen up, motherf*cker.'
Cybertruck Robotic Arm F10 Drone Launch!
Drone away!
Black Fungus Blocks Radiation
'You were surrounded by Astrophage most of the time'
Liuzhi Process Now In Use In China
'He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain.'
Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors...'
Will Robots Become Family Caregivers?
'The robant and the tiny old woman entered the control room slowly...'
Chinese Tokamak Uses AI To Keep Fusion Plasma Stable
'Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs... What are the odds?'
Time Crystals Can Now Be Seen Directly
'It is as you thought when you constructed the time crystal, my master Vaylan.'
RoboBallet The Dance Of Cooperative Robots
'...an integrated seven-unit robot team.'
Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri
'This was their world, their planet —
this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
