Study findings suggest that automation improves dispensing efficiency and reduces the rate of prevented dispensing incidents. It is proposed that prevented dispensing incidents frequently occurred during periods of high workload due to involuntary automaticity. Prevented dispensing incidents occurring after a busy period were attributed to staff experiencing fatigue after-effects.

The findings suggest that automation had a positive impact on staff experience of stressors, improving working conditions and workload. Technicians reported that ADS devalued their skills. When installing ADS, pharmacy managers must consider the impact of automation on staff. Strategies to reduce stressors associated with automation include rotating staff activities and role expansions.

Seventeen sites collected hourly data relating to staff time and items dispensed over a 3-day period. The result showed a Welsh national average for non-specialist hospital pharmacy dispensing rates of 9.9 items/person/h (95% CI = 0.9, n = 17). There was a significant positive association between hospital size and telephone interruptions (r(s) = 0.83, P < 0.001) but no correlation between hospital size and dispensing rates (r(s) = 0.06, P = 0.822).