Before being used for medical purposes, Chinese herbal medicines are called "Decoction" after they have been purified and prepared or concocted, and can be used directly in Chinese medicine for clinical formulation of soup prescriptions or for the production of preparations.

Traditionally, "scales" were used as the main tool for the preparation of decoction, with "tw-catty, tw-tael, and tw-mace" as the units. However, due to the significant error of traditional pole scales and the difficulty for pharmacists to learn how to use them. Nowadays, most of the electronic scales are used to take the place of traditional pole scales.

The hospital has introduced Chinese medicine smart medicine counter when we opened in December 2019 and already been officially launched in February 2020.

Pharmacists do not need to spend a lot of time to get familiar with the "tw-catty, tw-tael, and tw-mace" unit, which is different from the unit of calculation for Western medicine, because the smart medicine cabinet will automatically indicate the location of the decoction and the weight of the preparation.

The smart medicine cabinet will automatically indicate the location of decoction and the weight of dispensing, while the electronic scale is connected to the smart dispensing system to automatically check the weight, and can also check drug items, drug weight, drug duplication, and expiration date indication at the same time, which not only improves the quality of service but also enhances patient medication safety.