Faculty, staff, students and patients got a close-up look at USF Health’s “Pharmacy of the Future” last week.
Pharmacy Plus held an open house April 22 to inform the USF community of its full range of services, including making onsite pharmacists an integral part of the entire health care team.
Dr. Kevin Sneed, dean of the USF College of Pharmacy, meets “Fill,” who made his debut at the Pharmacy Plus open house and will help staff greet customers at the pharmacy.
The star of the event was “Fill,” short for Refill, a small humanoid robot with flashing eyes and a sensor to help avoid collisions with people walking around the robot. Fill was accompanied by a USF computer engineering student who is working on programming the hi-tech machine, intended to serve as a greeter for the pharmacy’s customers.
“Welcome to USF Health Pharmacy Plus,” Fill said in an electronic voice. “Can I help you find something?”
Fill gets a close-up look at RxMedic, also known as “Rex,” the robot that automates counting and dispensing prescription medications at Pharmacy Plus. The automation, with muiltiple safety checks, gives pharmacists time to engage more fully in patient care.
Pharmacy Plus is open Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Medication can be delivered anywhere on the USF Tampa campus. In addition, physicians seeing patients in the USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare can electronically send prescriptions to Pharmacy Plus so that, in most cases, the medication can be ready for pickup before the patient leaves the building.
For more information, please visit: http://health.usf.edu/pharmacy-plus.htm
Faculty,. staff, students and patients visited the Pharmacy Plus Open House.
Dr. Sneed describes how Pharmacy Plus is developing new ways to connect with patients through digital therapeutics and digital health applications.
Carole Colvin, vice president of business development for Bay Coffee & Tea Company, with Herbert Colvin, president and CEO, served organic java to open house attendees. Their local company is the vendor for Cafe Solar inside Pharmacy Plus.
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Accomplished violinists Raj Patel and Monica Stewart, first-year medical students at USF, provided musical entertainment
Mariam Gendi, PharmD, is the manager of Pharmacy Plus.
Garfield Huang (left), a doctoral student in the USF Department of Computer Science and Engineering, with Fill and Yu Sun, PhD, assistant professor in the department.
Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications and Marketing
