"InstyMeds" is a pharmacy kiosk that is an automatic medication dispensing machine. I have heard of these before, but this article really got me thinking about the future of pharmacy. I don't know if I'm excited or upset about this idea. This is like an ATM or a vending machine for prescription drugs. In my opinion, I think it's a bad idea and will be bad for pharmacists. Everyone wants convenience and nobody cares about their health or the possible risks that may come with it. The article states that these kiosks are placed in clinics and "make life simpler" for low-income patients that have barriers getting transportation to their pharmacy or struggle with child care issues. The kiosk is the size of a large refrigerator and is stocked with medications for common illnesses, such as colds, flus, and rashes. There are about 200 locations that have these and the number is growing. They are mainly located throughout California and Washington for now. These machines supposedly eliminate delays that result from transferring insurance information from clinics to pharmacies. They claim that when using the dispenser at the clinic, the wait is rarely longer than 10 minutes. There have been pharmacist groups that have voiced safety concerns regarding these kiosks. Jon Roth, chief executive officer of the California Pharmacists Association, said removing pharmacists from the process of prescribing drugs "could at best result in suboptimal therapy and at worst result in dangerous therapy." I think that patients would want to ask questions about their medications and want to be counseled, but this might not be the case with the kiosk. They said no problems have resulted from the drugs prescribed by the robotic pharmacies yet. What if the patient does have questions about their medications? Who would they ask and would the machine be able to answer them? This is definitely a downfall. What do you guys think? Please let me know your thoughts. Here's the link to the article:
I totally agree that this is certainly a downfall for patients and pharmacists both. If this is the case then what is the use of these many pharmacists out there in the Market. Some patients might think that this is great since they can get their prescriptions as quickly as possible but there are so many things related to medications for which they have no clue at all; they can also assume some instructions on their own. For instance, when patients are prescribed diuretics, they must know that they can't take the diuretics an hour before they go to sleep. Auxiliary labels might just say "take it in the morning" but now some patients sleep in the morning if they work night shift so questions like these will remain unclear to a lot of patients. So, some of the patients absolutely need counseling for some of these medications no matter instructions on the label are clear or not.
ReplyDeleteI think that this may not be that bad if pharmacists are incorporated into the system. Since this is designed for low income systems, these patients usually need more attention and more explaining since they are not as intune with medical terms and information. This would be good if these machines are manned by just one pharmacist at all times. This would still cut costs by eliminating technicians. This would also allot extra time for the pharmacist to answer extra questions.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with both of you (Nirav and Danielle) about needing an actual pharmacist there (physically on site) to explain how medications should be taken and to educate patients on important points about what they are taking. I am glad you guys shared your opinions and I'm happy to see that you guys agree with my thoughts on these pharmacy kiosks. People need to realize how important and knowledgeable pharmacists really are, and they need to let us help them with their medications and their health.
ReplyDeleteI agree with sandy. Well, this "Kiosks" can be useful for convenience, quickness, and easiness, but it may be made more error than we have now. As pharmacists, our job is to reduce the medication error with prescription and to counsel patients to understand their drugs. If there is no step with pharmacist and only mchine, lots of problems may be appeared.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you I think this “Insty Meds”, is not a good idea; not only because it does part of our job but doesn’t considered the essence of the dispensing a medication. Taking a prescription is not only dispensing and good luck getting better. It is evaluating all the medications the patients has, to see if there is an interaction, to identify if that patient really needs that medication and to help them deal with their disease. Many patients take more than three pills daily and do need some counseling about why do they need that medication and what to do in case of an adverse event and I don’t think I machine can acknowledge that level of thinking.
ReplyDeleteI think it is no secret that there is a real push in the country to streamline pharmacy dispensing and lower costs. This doesn't necessarily mean it will improve patient compliance, outcomes or overall health. This is another example of how the role of pharmacist is vastly changing and we need to embrace change and push the ball before someone else starts pushing it in the wrong direction for us.
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