Table 1.

Characteristics of wards with ADCs

	Pre	Post
Number of beds (N)	116	116
Occupancy percentage (%)	93.4	92.4
The average length of stay (day)	8.2	8.7
Number of admissions (N)	2184	2042
Total inpatient day (N)	19,770	19,443
Number of prescription orders* (N)	164,794	171,121
Number of dispensations (manual + ADC) (N)	206,728	215,421**

ADC: automatic dispensing cabinet

Pre: pre-ADC period, Post: post-ADC period

^*One order was counted as one medication

^**Number of manual and ADC dispensations during the post-ADC period was estimated from the prescription-dispensing ratio during the pre-ADC period