Pharmacy Purchasing & Products is very pleased to present our sixth annual State of Pharmacy Automation issue! This year’s survey, which saw the greatest response rate to date, yielded more robust and comprehensive data than ever before. With over one hundred pages of statistical benchmarking data, you can be confident that this year’s results are the measure by which to gauge your own facility’s operations and should compel you to make positive changes to any systems, operations, and processes you may see as lacking.  

In the last two years, impressive strides have been made by facilities of all sizes to emphasize proper budgeting for automation acquisitions and we are very encouraged to see that projections for automation spending continue to be strong for the next five years. The reminders are plenty that show the potential risks, and often terrible results, of processes that rely heavily on human interaction and input. As the number of powerful and effective drugs and drug compounds continue to be the necessary weapons against increasingly debilitating illnesses, the need for highly accurate and comprehensive automation will continue to grow. While there will never be a substitute for thoughtful, dedicated, and learned staff to ensure that patient, employee, and environmental needs are met, that we can put faith and trust in the highly sophisticated mechanisms of today’s (and tomorrow’s) automation means that we can all sleep better at night.

That being said, we are also deeply honored and delighted to find that an overwhelming 85% of survey respondents indicate using PP&P as a key resource when researching automation and making informed decisions. It is our overarching goal to continue to bring quality content and actionable, operational information to the practice of institutional pharmacy, each and every month. We hope you too will continue to support the efforts of PP&P by providing valuable feedback, tips, and suggestions to allow us to better serve your needs.

As you may be aware, PP&P makes the results of our State of Pharmacy Automation survey available to you online for professional presentations or proposals to your administration for practice improvements—simply visit our website for the PowerPoint slides. We want to make it easy for you to take full advantage of the information we have complied—important market research and usage data that presents the past, present, and future of pharmacy automation. We look forward to watching how the rest of 2011 unfolds as we prepare for even better developments in 2012!

All the best,

R. Mitchell Halvorsen
Publisher