According to this article… patients no longer need a one-to-one interaction with a Pharmacist when getting their prescriptions.. and the NJ BOP agrees !
According to the article “The kiosk offers the same services as traditional pharmacies”
“ScriptCenter allows us to better service our team members and grow our pharmacy without having to increase our labor costs.”
Of course, according to the USA TODAY ( http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2008-12-30-pharmacies-boards-mistakes-prescriptions_N.htm ) report a few years ago… THREE of the EIGHT RPH’s on the NJ BOP are chain/corporate employees..
It appears that right now.. this piece of automation has to be “loaded” with previously filled/bagged Rxs..
Imagine where we are headed… a Rx is generated by someone in the prescriber’s office… sent to a pharmacy robot electronically… which puts it directly into such a “vending machine”.
Can you see all the “rubbing of hands” by the corporate types… all the money/overhead expense they could be saving… and increased profits… just have a tech come in every morning to fill the robot… With every new Rx a instructional video is emailed to the patient.. to be viewed on their smart phone or any computer terminal… or pulled down from “the cloud”.
Maybe Phil Mypockets ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwbnjTbeUIs ) could be the narrator of these instructional videos.
This is not going to happen overnight… The Gen-X and younger is being cultivated to accept everything automated… texting is the most acceptable means of communications… everything can be stated in 160 characters are less. If they want to know/learn something… they go to their smart phone or computer terminal.
Filed under: General Problems
This is only one reason why any person thinking of going to pharmacy school should be energetically discouraged.You will spend over a 100 thousand dollars only to be replaced by a vending machine or an internet site.