The Good Samaritan Health System will be installing Swisslog's PillPick system, which automates the packaging, storage, and dispensing of medications. Once bulk medications are packaged in bar-coded, unit-dose form, they are stored in a high-density pharmacy robot that can accommodate >26,000 unit doses. The Lebanon, Pa-based hospital has a >170-bed census and dispenses ~2500 unit doses daily.

When medicines are needed, unit doses are pulled from the robot into a unit that assembles patient-specific 24-hour medication orders on a flexible PickRing. Each PickRing can be sorted alphabetically or by order of administration. A large bar-coded tag attached to each ring specifies the drug, administration time, and other patient-specific data.