Threat of automatic pill dispenser???

[pakcw]

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While I was working at Rite Aid, the employer placed this giant big automatic dispenser machine. Pham tech type -> machine automatically pull the drug and count them. All pharmacist did was replacing the medication into the bottle. That lighten the work-load of pharmacist a lot.
While 60% of pharmacists work in community pharmacy, any conern that employer will cut the no. of pharmacist.
Now a day better and better machine is coming up. LOOK ALL THIS INCREDIBLE TECHNOLOGY!

Any common for this?

 

[Caverject]

No this is not a threat. If anything it will enhance patient services

 

[pharmacazoid]

What if the machine decides to rise up against its human oppressors and starts giving everyone the wrong drugs ?

 

[bananaface]

I wonder if anyone realizes that these things count 1 Rx at a time and each pill takes 1 Mississippi.

They basically keep you from getting cranky about having to count to 350.

 

[Jaquabeem]

I wonder if anyone realizes that these things count 1 Rx at a time and each pill takes 1 Mississippi.

They basically keep you from getting cranky about having to count to 350.

I recently visited a pharmacy where they had this huge machined about 8ft tall and 15ft wide. It spat out all the pills for each rx entered in the computer in a matter of seconds. It was quite impressive.

 

[DrugDealer]

I recently visited a pharmacy where they had this huge machined about 8ft tall and 15ft wide. It spat out all the pills for each rx entered in the computer in a matter of seconds. It was quite impressive.

Eh, then I think the techs should worry more than the pharmacists. The machine just counts, it doesn't verify or counsel or smooth out customer service issues.

 

[soso809]

Machines still make errors so of course they still need to be monitered. Wouldn't want a technical error and have it dispense the wrong drug by accident and risk a patients life.

 

[DrugDealer]

Machines still make errors so of course they still need to be monitered. Wouldn't want a technical error and have it dispense the wrong drug by accident and risk a patients life.

Yup, and techs (and anyone else) can still fill a slot/cell with the wrong med.

 

[bananaface]

I recently visited a pharmacy where they had this huge machined about 8ft tall and 15ft wide. It spat out all the pills for each rx entered in the computer in a matter of seconds. It was quite impressive.

We had the "Pharm Assist" at one site I worked at. It was lame.

Machines are tools, not replacement workers. Even if things could be counted in no time, that would not impact pharmacist job security.

 

[jmr5008]

we just got one in our pharmacy about 6 months ago and we hate it. it breaks tablets & sometimes crushes them & once it dispensed ambien instead of lexapro. we're constantly having to watch it to see what its going to dispense next & we always are having to baby it (adding labels, adding vials, adding drugs etc) recently it malfunctioned overnight and we had to spend 2 hours on the phone trying to fix it in the morning when we were down a tech. plus the fact that i can count 5 scripts in the time it does 1.

 

[sdn1977]

Have you ever seen the really big mail order pharmacies & their machines? They are huge & there are many, many, many of them.

Walgreens, Kaiser, VA (hey - Kwizard!!!) all use them. They work great in these settings. They process large volumes of medications & times is not an issue since the rx has to be processed for billing & mailing.

Its amazing for these large operations. But...no threat to me or those I work with. I actually don't like working with them....but I do see their place.

 

[Moxxie]

The CVS that I worked at had a ScriptPro. While it was annoying to babysit and could jam sometimes, it really was a lifesaver - we did ~2400 scripts/week, and having the machine count out all the hydrocodone/amoxiciilin/etc. saved us a lot of time. We would have had to have another tech on hand during the day without it.

So maybe these machines are a threat to techs, but I can only see them helping retail in the long run. The pharmacist still has to verify the script and make sure that the machine did its job correctly.