anyone work in a pharmacy where there's an automated machine that does the counting and puts the labels on the vials so that it allows the pharmacist to be able to counsel patients more often? I've heard there are such things but i'm not sure if it exist or not.
Automated pharmacy
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babieblueazn said:
We have a Parata robot at Walgreens. It counts the pills, puts them in a vial, puts on the cap and slaps on the label. We then have to scan out the vial, then scan it into the scale and count it using the scale. If it is any type of controlled substance, we then have to count it manually. You have to keep the robot stocked with pills, caps, vials and labels and periodically clean the cells.
After 12 weeks of working with it, I found that it would be much faster to print a label and manually count the pills like I did at Eckerd last year.
It doesn't free up time for anyone.
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vafcarrot said:
We have to use the machine. When a script is typed in and verified, the computer matches the NDC against what is in the robot and it fills the script. Sometimes it lags behind for some reason and we manually fill. When the robot fills it 1/2 hour later, we have to return it to stock. Overall, it is not a time saver at all. For the cost of the machine, you could have paid the salary for another tech for several years.
What if the rx was typed up incorrectly, does the machine fill what was typed up?
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I've worked with something like Dana described... it was crappy. Always messed up... too complicated with too many moving parts.
Now I'm working with some other counting machine (forgot what its called). All it does is count the pills, and when its done you just scan the label, grab a vial, and pills come out. We have to put the label on manually. It's a lot easier and doesn't mess up as frequently, and also it's easy to undo/redo when there's a mistake. I like it. Never have to count 180 HCTZ ever again. And our night pharmacist restocks everything.
You know what would be a good thing: the vending machine thing especially for birth control. After last Sunday night at the 24 hour store I'm sick of irresponsible females who forget to pick up their OC's and then their pharmacy closed early and they frantically call in to the 24 hour store. Sick of it. Just the sheer number of OC's that are refilled and picked up on Sunday night... I think a vending machine type thing would be great.
Now I'm working with some other counting machine (forgot what its called). All it does is count the pills, and when its done you just scan the label, grab a vial, and pills come out. We have to put the label on manually. It's a lot easier and doesn't mess up as frequently, and also it's easy to undo/redo when there's a mistake. I like it. Never have to count 180 HCTZ ever again. And our night pharmacist restocks everything.
You know what would be a good thing: the vending machine thing especially for birth control. After last Sunday night at the 24 hour store I'm sick of irresponsible females who forget to pick up their OC's and then their pharmacy closed early and they frantically call in to the 24 hour store. Sick of it. Just the sheer number of OC's that are refilled and picked up on Sunday night... I think a vending machine type thing would be great.
crying moo said:
We discouraged that behavior for insurance customers by making them pay cash. For those who persisted (few) we reimbursed them when we could back out the other script.
My current pharmacy is using four full Script Pro machines costing a cool
28 million dollars. The machines were not designed for the volume we pump through and increased the average customer wait time from 25 minutes to 40 minutes. The chief advantage to these machines was the dramatic decrease in misfill errors. The system is so bulletproof that the drive-through part of my pharmacy can fill 3000 prescriptions per day with no pharmacist intervention whatsoever. They only service refills at this station.
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baggywrinkle said:
I really hope that there is some sort of verification involved. Or does the machine scan the barcodes on the stock bottles and load itself?
I did a shadow at Wallgreen's Health Initiative in Tempe, AZ. The Baker Cells would tag a bottle when it was misfilled or if the machine thought the tabs were broken. Of course there were still about 5 different pharmacist checkpoints along the way, but was still pretty neat.
I have used a couple of different automated dispensers, and I can say that some are nice and others are a PITA. Especially when a capsule breaks and you have to polish 300+ cephalexin by hand. At least I found out I was allergic to cephalosporins that way instead of ingesting them and getting anaphylaxis...
aaron31981 said:
EVERYTHING is barcoded. Scan the cell, scan the stock bottle, fill the cell, scan the RX bottle. Out it goes. These are all refills.
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babieblueazn said:
With Wags VISION software, the script is scanned and typed. The pharmacist reviews all typed scripts. If there are no errors flagged, the computer then proceeds with the fill. It's the same without the robot, the typed script must be verified before the label ever prints.
babieblueazn said:
Kaiser has this at their refill center.... At least in Denver, Colorado.
baggywrinkle said:
My rite aid has a script pro robot with 200 cells. Ill say that the thing is a pain in the ass, but it saves time. Its good for busy days when alot of people want chronic medication and we are busy helping customers. Its counts good for most things, but for small tablets like ambien it sucks. It ussualy overcounts. Ive adjusted and tweaked the cell for hours. Its easy to fill during slow days. In slower days, it's faster to count by hand, but we cant becasue the robot will still count it. If people use the software right, it will never give you the wrong medication, it may just miscount. People take short cuts filling cells, and thats when you may get a bad error.
