Staff attitudes about the use of robots in pharmacy before implementation of a robotic dispensing system

Hospital pharmacy staff members at a Mid-western university medical center were surveyed to determine their attitudes about the use of robots in pharmacy dispensing before a robotic system was implemented. A questionnaire seeking attitudes about the use of robots in pharmacy was distributed to 147 pharmacy staff (pharmacy managers, pharmacist practitioners, pharmacotherapists, pharmacy residents and fellows, pharmacy technicians, and salaried pharmacy students). Attitudinal items were scored on a 5-point scale ranging from very favorable to very unfavorable. The response rate was 75%. Overall, staff expressed favorable attitudes in terms of job security, professional impact, and general robotics orientation. Pharmacy managers and pharmacotherapists were the most likely to report feeling secure about their jobs; pharmacy technicians and salaried pharmacy students were slightly less positive. Favorable attitudes about the professional impact of the robotic system were demonstrated by all groups except pharmacist practitioners and pharmacy technicians. Attitudes about management issues were unfavorable; pharmacist practitioners demonstrated the least favorable attitudes. In general, responses to semantic-differential statements reflected favorable attitudes; where there were differences, pharmacy technicians showed the least positive and pharmacy managers the most positive attitudes. Respondents reported that pharmacist practitioners would be most positively affected and pharmacy technicians most negatively affected by robotic dispensing. Almost half of the respondents who provided general comments indicated that they needed more information about the use of robots. Pharmacy staff had generally favorable attitudes about the use of robots in pharmacy.