5 ms·
It's legally required because even with a prescription, an untrained person can't just walk to a hypothetical drug store with everything on the shelf and safely
by xnyan 7y ago
It's legally required because even with a prescription, an untrained person can't just walk to a hypothetical drug store with everything on the shelf and safely select what's written down. There are too many chances to make mistakes, misreading the label, self diagnoses and prescription of dangerous substances, etc. This can be addressed by automated, human-free system with tech we have today. Your doc sends a valid Rx, a box dispenses your drug. I don't know if it would be cost effective today, but we could do it and it stands to reason that one day it will be cheaper than doing it (validating substances and dose) with one highly trained human counting pills by hand at every single location.
Potentially dangerous drug interactions and instructions can be solved by automation for what can be automated and tele-pharmacists in all others.
- moduspol 7y agoWe already have mail order pharmacies, so it's not too big of a stretch.
- ng12 7y agoThere's still a human pharmacist on the other end of every single order, it just gets sent in the mail instead of handed over the counter.
- moduspol 7y agoOf course, but my comment was in response to the claims of the comment I responded to. It was not a claim that pharmacists are not involved.
- ng12 7y agoA very large part of what pharmacists do is double-check the doctor's work. Mistakes, miscommunication, overlooked drug interactions, etc. In a sense the purpose of a pharmacist is having an accredited person dispense the medication as part of the pharmacy's liability insurance.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- joe_the_user 7y agoThis can be addressed by automated, human-free system with tech we have today. Your doc sends a valid Rx, a box dispenses your drug. Sure, what would be necessary is a GUI that was as usable and flexible as the doctor's hand-written scribble while being standard enough across the country that any doctor could use and every single drug could be dispensed by it. Which is to say that this is a really massive undertaking and opposition from a multitude of angles, including opposition from companies that have invested in most half-assed solution. Which is to say, this likely won't happen or it will require more than one more corporation dipping their toe in this.