Packing of medication is now done by pharmacists but by 2010, robots will take over the work at some public hospitals and polyclinics. ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG

BY 2010, patients in some public hospitals, specialist centres and polyclinics will have their medications packed and barcoded by robots, rather than pharmacists.

Nurses or pharmacists will dispense the drugs after matching the barcode on the package with the barcode on the patient’s wristband or identity card.

The project is one of three that will be rolled out over the next two years by SingHealth. The health-care group aims to improve patient safety and integrate all its systems into a seamless one.

In the second project, doctors will prescribe medication, order laboratory tests, X-rays and scans and make referrals to other health professionals by going online instead of using paper forms.

Alerts will pop up if they prescribe drugs that the patient is allergic to, set the wrong dose or omit necessary tests.

In the third project, nurses will enter patients’ information, such as temperature and blood pressure, into an online record, instead of a paper file.

One aim of the overhaul is to consolidate disparate pieces of patient information – currently stored in different databases or paper files – into a single electronic health record for every patient.

Being able to track and search information that has been stored electronically will greatly aid research, say, on how effective treatments are on a group of patients, said Dr Low Cheng Ooi, who co-chairs the projects’ steering committee.

“When you have physical order forms, it’s practically impossible to analyse them, unless you have a whole army of people going through them,” he said.

SingHealth runs Changi General Hospital (CGH), KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), Singapore General Hospital (SGH), five specialist centres and nine polyclinics in eastern Singapore.

Its doctors already prescribe drugs electronically now. The problem is that pharmacists need to transcribe the prescriptions into their own computer system, which raises the risk of errors being made.

Errors could occur too when medication is packed or served, especially to elderly or drowsy patients who may not be able to identify themselves to nurses.

Under the new system, safety alerts, automated packing and barcoding of drugs will cut the risk of errors.

SingHealth’s first step in implementing the projects was to transfer all the information from its existing systems to a new integrated computer system last month. This integrated system provides a platform for different computer programs to “talk” and share information, and new programs to be added.

In the first quarter of next year, CGH will start testing the electronic prescription program, KKH the automated medication management program, and SGH the nurse charting program.

The projects will cost SingHealth more than $10 million, said its group chief information officer, Dr Chong Yoke Sin.

The National Healthcare Group – which runs Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), Institute of Mental Health, nine polyclinics in western Singapore and National University Hospital (NUH), also use online orders for lab tests and outpatient drugs.

TTSH and NUH are adding a program to let doctors prescribe drugs for inpatients online too.

Alexandra Hospital uses online prescriptions for outpatient medication now, and will include online orders for lab tests and X-rays next year.