Tablet Packaging Machine with Inspection Function – Enhancing Home Healthcare Operations Aiming to improve the efficiency and quality of pharmacy operations

Panadome operates six dispensing pharmacies under the name of Panaplus Pharmacy, mainly in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture (Dr. Nobumasa Fujii, Representative Director). The Nomi branch of Panaplus Pharmacy, which mainly focuses on home medical care in their company’s pharmacy group, introduced YUYAMA’s PROUD-i fully automatic tablet packaging machine with an inspection support function last fall in order to improve the efficiency of in-person service such as the dispensing of medications. With automation, the company is striving to ensure that pharmacists have more time to spend on home visits and other.

The company’s mission is to “bring happiness to the ordinary”. In addition to the pharmacy business, the company is also involved in the planning, design, and construction of welfare facilities, new homes, and home remodeling, etc. In 2009, the company took over the electrical work business from its predecessor and started the pharmacy business from scratch. Fujii, who is also a pharmacist, says, “We are trying to develop a business in the community that can fulfill our mission.

Panaplas Pharmacy Nomi Store handles approximately 1,200 medications. It is positioned as the homecare division of the pharmacy business and focuses on providing home medical care to facilities and individuals. One of its features is that it is equipped with a sterile dispensing room (clean room), which is rare in the Okazaki and Koda-machi areas. On the other hand, in order to respond to the increasing need for home medical care, it was necessary to reduce the workload of the pharmacist staff in dispensing medications as an in-person service.

Under such circumstances, Dr. Fujii focused his attention on the “PROUD-i”, which was released by Yuyama in October 2022. This is a fully automated tablet packaging machine that combines a built-in camera to assist in the inspection of tablets with an advanced cassette mechanism.

The top and bottom cameras photograph the medicine from both sides immediately before packaging, so the medicine itself can be photographed without being affected by the type of packaging paper, printing, perforations, etc. The captured images are then analyzed for factors such as the color tone, shape, and size of the medicine, and the front and back sides are displayed in a horizontal line.

The two-sided imaging also makes it easy to visually distinguish between images, and color-coding can be used to indicate differences in quantities or unknown drugs. When repackaging is necessary due to a discrepancy or other reason, it can be easily done at the touch of a button from the inspection result screen.

Dr. Fujii said, “In providing home medical care, the pharmacist had to perform the dispensing and finish the final appraisal by looking at the dispensed products after dispensing, so the subsequent tasks, such as setting the medicines in the calendar for taking with them, could not be performed. The number of pharmacists was also limited, and the biggest challenge was that when the pharmacist was not at the pharmacy during the home visit, the work would stop in the middle of the process because the next step could not be taken,” he recalls.

He also mentioned, “I decided to introduce the machine last October because I thought it was exactly what I was looking for in terms of how close I could get to perfection without the intervention of a pharmacist.

Prior to the release of PROUD-i, it was necessary to install a separate inspection support device in addition to the fully automatic tablet packaging machine. In addition to the cost of the equipment, it was also necessary to secure space for two such units, as well as to set dispensed pouches into the inspection device. The introduction of PROUD-i has the advantage of reducing the space required for machines in the dispensing room, as well as reducing the number of personnel needed.

Automated packaging and forensics

About six months have passed since its introduction. Dr. Fujii commented, “The ability to automatically perform both the packaging and the inspection has led to an overwhelming improvement in the efficiency of in-store work. We are currently reviewing our workflow based on the premise that PROUD-i,” adding that he intends to build a system that will enable pharmacists to make home visits efficiently. He continues, “Our current goal is to allow pharmacists to spend more time on home visits, especially those that only pharmacists can make, such as collaboration with multiple professions. In the past, the creation of such time has depended on the work skills of individual pharmacists, but from now on, the company intends to create an environment in which all pharmacists can secure the time they need to work on these tasks.

Regarding the performance of PROUD-i itself, he said, “I feel again that it is quite high. The fact that the work used to be necessary is no longer needed is significant. In addition, the use of the cassette mechanism has greatly reduced the amount of manual filling process.

Dr. Fujii worked as a pharmacist at a dispensing chain company until he took over the company’s business. Based on his experience, he said, “Until now, the pharmacist’s place has been in the dispensing room. They would write down the medication record in the dispensing room and go to the reception when a patient came in. Nowadays, in-person service is necessary to be strengthened and pharmacists have more duties such as providing medication guidance, following up after patients have taken their medication, collaborating with multiple professions, and promptly reporting when they visit. He states, “I think it is necessary for pharmacists to have the image that the dispensing room is equal to the machine room, rather than engaging in in-person service work in the dispensing room.

Regarding the lifting of a ban in Osaka City on outsourcing of dispensing services for only medication packaging, by utilizing the National Strategic Special Zones,Dr. Fujii said, “We are outsourcing to a machine in the dispensing room.

In the case of the Nomi Store, PROUD-i is being used to reduce pharmacists’ duties by streamlining pharmacy operations and to expand operations such as home healthcare. On the other hand, Dr. Fujii stated that the ideal state of pharmacies in general is to “develop services that overturn the image of a prescription being an admission ticket to a pharmacy, and while promoting digitalization using ICT and IoT, to create an environment where pharmacists can come to the forefront as the first access to medical care so that the efficiency of dispensing operations is an issue that needs to be resolved.We would like to work on increasing productivity through a simple workflow, with a view to introducing PROUD-i at other pharmacies in the future.

(From the pharmaceutical reports)

Information as of July 2024