A small clear box holding dozens of white pills rises toward a stainless-steel cylinder.
Pfft.
A single pill is sucked onto the end of the cylinder.
Whir. Whirrr.
The cylinder rotates and releases the pill into a clear plastic baggie attached to a carousel. Labeling is applied and the carousel rotates.
Pshh.
A robot arm plucks the baggie from the carousel, rises, and turns, dropping the baggie into a chute, which leads to conveyor belts, and baskets, and pneumatic tubes that run through the building to patient floors at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. It's a marvel of technology and automation that is making health care safer and more efficient. And it's paired with the equally essential human touch of pharmacists who check and recheck the medication along the way-and so much more.
