Dr Scott Soefje Highlights the Decision to Implement IV Chemotherapy Robotic Technology

Intravenous (IV) robotic technology brings advantages for pharmacy staff, but there are also accuracy issues with the technology. In addition, this technology will not be replacing a pharmacy technician job, said Scott Soefje, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, FCCP, FHOPA, director of pharmacy cancer care and assistant professor of pharmacy, Mayo Clinic.

Transcript

What should cancer centers consider when deciding to implement intravenous (IV) chemotherapy robotic technology?

IV therapy robotic technology is something that I think all cancer centers will ultimately get to, but it's not yet ready for everybody. You're going to have to look at your workflow, your demands on space and time and money, and can you put this all together in a way to make the robotic technology work?

The robotic technology brings advantages in that you reduce the exposure of hazardous drugs for your staff; there's some data now that's starting to suggest that they're more accurate than the traditional manual, they may not be more accurate than those systems that use IV workflow systems. But there are accuracy issues, and you improve the safety issues. Then I think you have to get your series of questions together that you're going to talk to your vendors about. We're in the infancy of chemotherapy robots; they're going to continue to come out, they're going to continue to grow, they're going to continue to evolve. Really doing your homework to determine which one of these products is the best for my institution and how does it fit is going to be very, very important.

Most cancer centers are in a space constraint. So, trying to figure out: where are you going to put this thing? How is it going to fit into your workflow? How are we going to integrate it? That becomes extremely important. A lot of times, it's easier if you're utilizing an existing remodeling process to integrate the robots vs bringing them in and trying to fit them into the space that you already have. You're going to have to put all of this together to see how you're going to do it.

The technology that's currently out there right now is not going to replace a technician. And I think that's the other thing hospitals have got to understand. Infusion centers have got to understand they’re not replacing a technician. What you're doing is you're redistributing what their work is, and you're helping offload somebody else's work, so you can have them doing another job, doing something different.