Technology increasingly impacts every part of the world, and that's true for the independent pharmacist, as well. Although you may have resisted pharmacy automation technologies in your quest to provide more personalized service to customers and avoid medication and administrative errors, the truth is that retail shelving options and automation can actually improve accuracy, profitability – and free you up to spend more time with your patients.
Pharmacy automation considerations and benefits
With automation, you can:
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Improve administrative and medication accuracy, and reduce errors
Although you may think that you can reduce medication and administrative errors by avoiding pharmacy automation technologies, the opposite is actually true. While robots have been around for a while, previous claims of lack of accuracy, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness have been exaggerated. Further, some claimed, robots' accuracy was not always assured, making them potentially dangerous to use.
No more. Now, robots can let you fill multiple prescriptions per minute accurately and efficiently; if you don't have to spend time filling prescriptions, you can spend more time with your patients.
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Eliminate medication cross-contamination
Because robots can count many prescriptions simultaneously and dispense them into separate vials automatically, cross-contamination and air quality concerns are eliminated; that's because today's robots use vacuum technology instead of compressed air.
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Reduce staff downtime
You can use today's pharmacy shelving and other technologies to stock inventory with just a few quick keystrokes, even as robots continue to fill other prescriptions so that you don't experience downtime. Because you can connect robots to interface with any pharmacy management system, your productivity and efficiency are assured.
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Reduce theft
Thefts of medications like OxyContin and other controlled substances are a continual concern. Protect yourself and your staff by utilizing new technologies such as pharmacy shelving drawers with lids that lock. These new technologies give you the ability to protect and manage controlled substances and other medications that are subject to theft.
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Increase staff productivity
With new pharmacy automation technologies, you can streamline your staff without unduly increasing workload on them. Robotic dispensing systems can do the rote work of counting tablets, filling vials, and applying labels to those files. The systems are placed open into slots so that staff can inspect them prior to use for assured accuracy. With these rote tasks taken care of, your staff can spend more time working with patients one-on-one – and again, medication errors are reduced.
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Provide self-help options for patients
Of course you want to serve your patients by answering their questions whenever possible, but certain basic questions can now be handled automatically. New technologies like automated kiosks allow your patients to input symptoms and get basic diagnostic information. With this, they can determine their best options for over-the-counter medications in instances where concerns are minor and they don't need personalized advice. This benefits both you and your patients because they don't have to wait in line to get answers to questions from you, and you don't have to spend time answering the same basic questions over and over again.
Rest assured that kiosks are not meant to be a standalone diagnostic option, but instead are meant to work in tandem with you. They simply provide basic information to patients for initial diagnoses, whereupon you can take over if need be.
If you've been hesitant to accept new pharmacy shelving and automation technologies into your own pharmacy because you are afraid of error or don't want to skimp on personalized service, worry no more. Today's technologies can make you more efficient and improve profits even as they give you and your staff more time to spend with patients.
