| Pharmacies are getting busier, and people are | | | | being sold has an error rate of 1 in 10,000. |
| ordering in robots to deal with the workload. In a | | | | Myths about Robot Pharmacists |
| typical set up, a human pharmacist might have a | | | | Despite the picture in your head, |
| robot assistant doing their grunt work while they | | | | disappointingly, robot pharmacists don't much look |
| do the talking with the customers. It may sound | | | | like R2D2 or CP30 or act like humans. They are |
| like something out of the Jetsons but robot | | | | much more likely to look like large machines, |
| pharmacists are a growing trend. It's even | | | | much like the automated ones in factories. The |
| possible you have already been served by a | | | | robots work with a barcode system. Prescriptions |
| robot in your local pharmacy but just don't know | | | | are translated into barcodes which the robot |
| it. You may just not have seen it in action if your | | | | reads. |
| friendly neighborhood pharmacy robot happens to | | | | Robots in pharmacies won't be taking away |
| work behind the counter. | | | | human jobs. In fact, real live pharmacists who |
| The Facts: What You Need to Know About Robot | | | | have worked with the robots now say that they |
| Pharmacists | | | | don't know how they worked without them. With |
| Like their human counterparts, robot | | | | the robots taking care of repetitive tasks like |
| pharmacists simply do what the doctor ordered- | | | | picking, sorting, measuring and stocking, |
| they fill prescriptions and dole out drugs. | | | | pharmacists are free to spend more time doing |
| Robots are mostly useful for large pharmacy | | | | what they are trained to do-spending time with |
| chains. Pharmacies buy drugs in bulk rather then | | | | customers and counselling them in healthcare. |
| pre-mixed because they are cheaper that way. | | | | Some people think drug companies are |
| Normally human pharmacists mix the drugs | | | | pushing for more robots in pharmacies because |
| according to prescriptions. This is where robots | | | | they would like to see drugs dispensed more |
| come in. With robot pharmacists, the picking, | | | | freely in general. They see robotic pharmacies as |
| sorting and mixing is all automated. | | | | a kind of "vending machine approach" to drugs. |
| Pharmacies expect that their robot | | | | They believe that, along with pushing |
| employees will save them time. With the bots | | | | over-the-counter drugs is a step closer to |
| counting, bottling, and labelling prescriptions, they | | | | bypassing doctors altogether. The truth? This |
| promise to shorten the time it takes to fill an | | | | view seems a bit extreme. Doctors as well as |
| order, sometimes by a few hours. It helps that | | | | human pharmacists are unlikely to be out of a job |
| robots don't have to take coffee breaks! | | | | soon, even given that artificial intelligence doctors |
| It is also expected that robots in pharmacies | | | | are now being rolled out in the same way robot |
| will reduce errors in dispensing prescriptions. As an | | | | pharmacists are being rolled out. |
| example, one of the robot pharmacist models | | | | |