ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:To optimize the drug placement in the automated drug dispensing machine to improve work efficien-cy. METHODS:Based on the principle of the minimum time algorithm,the drug which would be used at a high frequency was placed in the drug storage tank nearest to the drug outlet. Meanwhile,the rule of drug use was drawn from the information on a large number of prescriptions,based on which the drugs correlated with each other were placed in the drug storage tanks that were adjacent. With daily time it takes to add drugs,average time it takes to make up a prescription and the maximum number of drugs stored as the evaluated indexes,the initial drug placement in the automated drug dispensing machine was optimized. The changes in the indexes within 3 months before and after the above-mentioned optimization were statically analyzed. RESULTS:After calculat-ing the three-dimensional sizes of the packages of drugs and the dispensing frequency data of the previous year,354 drugs were se-lected and placed in the nearer or farther storage tanks in the automated dispensing machine according to the dispensing frequency and the correlation among them. After the optimization of the placement,daily time it takes to add drugs reduced by 54 min(218 vs. 165 min)on average,average time it takes to make up a prescription reduced by 8 s(24 vs.16 s)and the maximum number of drugs stored increased by 1 333 boxes(13 113 vs. 14 446 boxes)on average. There was statistical significance in differences(P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS:The initial drug placement in the automated drug dispensing machine that was optimized by minimum time algorithm has reduced daily time it takes to add drugs and average time it takes to make up a prescription and increased the maximum number of drugs stored and thus improved work efficiency.