TORONTO, March 16 (UPI) — A Canadian banking-like machine that dispenses prescription drugs is getting good reviews after several months of trials at a Toronto hospital.
The Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center installed the PharmaTrust kiosks in June, and in a three-month period, some 800 patients used the machines to obtain 1,200 prescriptions between June and September, the National Post reported.
Of them, 95 percent said they had their drugs within five minutes, manufacturer PCS President Peter Suma, told the newspaper, and none of them got the wrong drugs.
The prescription is scanned on both sides, and PCA pharmacists in Oakville, west of Toronto, interact with the patient by video link and telephone, the report said.
The machines carry 340 different kinds of widely prescribed drugs, and once the pharmacist has verified the device has picked the right product, the machine dispenses the order.
Dr. Sharon Domb, medical director of family medicine at Sunnybrook, told the Post so far about a third of patients who used the machines found their medicine was not available, although PCA offers to deliver those orders to the patient’s home the next day.
Damn, is EVERYTHING going to be automated?
I guess I missed how this idea was the stupidest thing on Earth, as is the general sentiment in blog items here.
Could you identify “the automation” that has taken place here?
Seems to me it is the installation of a machine dispenser instead of face to face contact and that alone. No automtion at all.
I can see this being even more efficient if we weren’t all hysterical about drugs in general and even this system could cut down on wait times.
Not “remarkable” though except that drugs are still an inefficient doctor controlled monopoly that inflates the cost of health care without much benefit to the public.
Yes, everything will be automated… go to 2:50 in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCG9xAQRLzY
Now all that a violent psychotic junkie needs is a fork lift and a pickup truck…
i’m in Iowa and we’ve had these for over 3 years. theyre great. no odd looks, no busy waiting areas and no sitting around sick people who are waiting to get their Rx.
I get mine delivered in bulk from Express-Scripts.com. I don’t need no stink’n machine … just a web browser.
I’m waiting for the automated funerals complete with automated mourners.
Medical marijuana vending machines have been around for a while in CA also.
domo arigato mr drug pusher roboto
It ate my loonie, so i kicked the shit out of it.
… good shit too.
Why do you hate technology so much?
This can’t happen fast enough.
Great target for any criminals… totally dumb idea, especially if it’s drugs that can sold for hundreds/thousands on the street