| ▲ | sghiassy 16 hours ago | ||||||||||||||||
Honest question, why aren’t pills dispensed by machines? I get that a pharmacist should review the prescription. And let’s say you even want employee-customer interaction; which is great. But dispensing X pills from one bottle to another bottle is a solved problem right? | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | estearum 16 hours ago | parent | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
Machines cost a ton of money and need to be maintained? As those two variables change, I'm sure they will replace the dispensing function for pharmacists. In fact this already does happen at a lot of pharmacies these days. Machines put the pills in bottles, then a pharmacist hands the bottle to you. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | DriverDaily 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
I think that’s the idea behind those centralized pharmacies like Amazon health. Easier than putting a pill dispensing assembly line in every CVS. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | trollbridge 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
A pharmacy tech actually counts the pills if they move them from Bottle A to Bottle B, it is not particularly time consuming, and it isn't a particularly skilled position. Starts at $14 an hour around me and tops out around $23. | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | a2tech 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
They are in large setups. Including mail order and bulk dispensing places (like Walmart pharmacy—most pills are dispensed at central locations and delivered to the store prepackaged). | |||||||||||||||||
| ▲ | StephenAmar 16 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
Well, in many countries, pharmacies just dispense prepackaged packs and bottles. No counting involved. | |||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | AussieWog93 15 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | ||||||||||||||||
I could imagine a machine like this would cost something on the order of $100k, require ongoing maintenance and wouldn't really solve any problems/bottlenecks at your typical local pharmacy. It's not like you could replace the pharmacist with a machine. | |||||||||||||||||
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| ▲ | calvinmorrison 16 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | ||||||||||||||||
There are pill counter machines! it's a solved problem for sure. | |||||||||||||||||