RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE:To shorten time consuming for dispensing mode of automatic medicine packaging machine(ATC), and improve the efficiency of ATC. METHODS:In the inpatient pharmacy of our hospital,previous dispensing mode that two ATC matched with one tablet case separately was replaced by new mode,i.e. one ATC(another ATC was on standby)matched with two tablet cases(one of them added medicine beforehand),and the information of drug-position coordinate was equipped. The time con-sumed,average daily number of packages,financial expenses and labor costs were recorded and analyzed to evaluated the effect of new mode. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS:Compared with previous mode,new dispensing mode improve the efficiency of ATC greatly. In previous mode,two ATCs and four pharmacists work simultaneously and spend 4.5 hours for 3 850 bags of medicine, which cost 4 400 000 yuan;in new mode,only one ATC and three pharmacists work simultaneously,and spend 3.0 hours for 4 015 bags of medicine,which cost 2 350 000 yuan. Therefore,double-universal tablet cases greatly improves the efficiency of ATC and reduce the financial expenses as machine maintenance and labor cost.