Update on robotic medication-delivery system

Abstract

An article by Kirschling et al.1 in the October 1, 2009, issue of AJHP described an internal evaluation of Aethon’s first prototype version of the TUG, an autonomous mobile robot that was launched for commercial use in late 2005. The study, which was part of a graduate student project in 2006 and not intended for public distribution, was an attempt to determine the feasibility of a robotic medication-delivery system at the hospital facility of the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics (UWHC) and to provide useful feedback to the company for general and successful release of the product. While conclusions drawn from this study, including requirements and strategies for successful implementation of robotic systems (in the article’s Table 4), provide a framework for evaluating such systems, the article does not provide adequate context. It can be incorrectly inferred that the article describes “new” research when, in fact, the research is almost four years old. In addition, no follow-up was done to report on the implementation of the study recommendations in the more than 100 hospitals that have successfully installed a robotic delivery system since the study was completed. As correctly noted by the authors, the pace of change in robotic technology is very dynamic, and therefore, a review of the progress attained over the last four years is important in properly evaluating the feasibility of such systems.