Yesterday I saw A Robot Pharmacist

[XanaDUer]

It was called the McKesson Robot and it can fill over 2800 prescription in about 4-5 hours.

That got me thinking: Should robots take the place of pharmacists, especially in light of the so-called Pharmacists for Life?

http://www.winthrop.org/newsroom/publications/vol9_no2_1999/corner13.cfm

Especially in light of pharmacists who are supposed to turn over any prescription they object to on "moral" grounds but don't turn them over to another pharmacist to fill?

Stories like this one:

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/news/item.php?keyid=8101&page=1&category=8&scategory=0

A robot just fills the prescriptions. You don't get a lecture on your life or morals or values, and you don't get a hassle.

I think we need more robotic pharmacists.

EDIT: Clarity.

[DBoon]

1. Did the phramacist look like this?

[XanaDUer]

9. Lol!

No, it was a big arm that could move around this room with little dispensing vials around the perimeter.

[kliljedahl]

11. Probably like this

Keith’s Barbeque Central

[DanCa]

14. lol

Do you have have him in a borg suit?

[kliljedahl]

20. No, wish I did

Keith’s Barbeque Central

[slaveplanet]

25. Nothing new

they've been using robots for years...

[FreedomAngel82]

2. Interesting

I've never heard of this. Perhaps if there is a person who doesn't fulfill people's perscriptions just fire them and replace them with a robot for a while until they can get a real person who will do the job. All these holier then thou people are getting on my nerves! They need to deal with their own life and leave mine a lone. I'm sure if we looked hard enough there will be something there in their life they wouldn't be proud of.

[XanaDUer]

10. My problem is when they don't pass it on to another

pharmacist.

[The Doctor.]

3. Normally, I find religion to be a good thing...

But lately I'm having trouble watching these righteous fools work toward making America a third-world country.

[Skittles]

5. these "regligious fools" are to religion

what pedophiles are to children

[noamnety]

4. Urgent correction on your post!!!

They are the Pharmacists for Life International.

Apparently, that's a very important part of their name, as evidenced by this excerpt from their Exec. Dir's email to me yesterday:

By you lack of verbal abilities I am sure you have no clue what Rx means, let alone the many functions a pharmacist provides daily, or the minor fact that our full name includes "International" but you probably just couldn't read the website.

:rofl:

I did notice, however, that their registry of participating pharmacists includes exactly 6 entries, all within the US.

http://www.pfli.org/main.php?pfli=findpharmacist

[Heyo]

6. I don't think we need robot pharmacists.

And come to think of it, if somebody owns a private business, and that happens to be a pharmacy, and they don't want to stock a particular medication for whatever nutty right-to-life reason they happen have, this is America and they have the freedom to run their own business how they choose.

However, what we need is, and I think it is happening, the major pharmacy chains to have, as a condition of employment of the pharmacist, a requirement to fill any persciprtion written by a doctor or be terminated from employemnt, or not even given the job if they plan to refuse to fill scrips for personal reasons. An exception is obviously made if the pharmacist realized the doctor has made a mistake or the drugs or combination thereof is dangerous to the patient.

If I owned a pharmacy, my policy will be that no eomployee will refuse to fill an perscription on his/her own personal grounds and work here. If that's what you want to do go someplace else. I would politely tell prospective employees that that is not the kind of eprson we want working here, but you are free to go elsewhere and preach your gospel to the unsuspecting masses.

The robot is cool though.

Heyo

[Swamp Rat]

12. Thousands of drug ATMs could be controlled from far away

One day Big Brother decides all humanoids must procreate, so no more contraceptives until birth quota is reached. :scared:

[DemBones DemBones]

29. A frightening scenario that could be extended to

other medications, such as no more drugs for AIDS patients or no more drugs for Alzheimer's patients -- get rid of the "sinners" and "useless eaters."

[undeterred]

7. The pharmacist is supposed to be there to answer questions

I don't think a robot can replace a human with professional judgment.

[XanaDUer]

8. Maybe they can have both?

A human for questions and consultations, and the robot to fill them.

[DanCa]

13. Seriously ask him this question for me.

My niece is pre teen hemophiliac. She needs birth control to regulater her bleeding. Her doctor wants her to go on bc once she having her period. If he objects to her bc and she dies is he cupable for murder? Please ask him that question and let me know what he says.

[XanaDUer]

15. Well, I don't think the McKesson Robot would object.

Besides making very few medication errors and filling prescriptions faster, it has no religious beliefs, as far as I know. I guess it's like an atheistic human that cannot talk.

If a human pharm denied her those pills and she dies, then I would say that the human would be culpable in her death. I don't think pharmacists need to interject themselves between the doctor and patient.

:shrug:

[DemBones DemBones]

16. Can it answer patients' questions about their meds?

Explain how various meds compare to one another, suggest ones they might suggest as alternatives for their doctor to prescribe?

Will it warn patients about side effects they might experience?

Robots can do a lot but not everything. For routine refills, they'd be fine, I suppose.

It's kind of like robot librarians, though, IMO. Sometimes the help of a librarian is invaluable, the same is true of pharmacists.

:hi:

[XanaDUer]

17. I'm not sure.

I am going to look at it more closely next week. I do appreciate the human touch when it comes to medicine and medical care, however.

It's just that this robot got me thinking about all the applications robots have, and then about pharmacists not filling prescriptions, etc.

Although I must say that librarians are bound to be information neutral. You don't NOT provide info just because you personally object to it.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. There's no reason a well-programmed computer can't do any of that. (nt)

[Heyo]

24. Exactly!

Now.. where did I put my scrip for medical marijuana again? (*rumages through desk*)

:shrug:

Heyo

[DemBones DemBones]

27. A computer can do most but not all. A computer

can never have empathy for a patient and that can be important in giving advice.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

39. Wel, "all" wasn't any of your questions. Your questions were:

"Can it answer patients' questions about their meds? Explain how various meds compare to one another, suggest ones they might suggest as alternatives for their doctor to prescribe? Will it warn patients about side effects they might experience?"

To that, the answer is still yes. Programs that do that are called "specialist systems" and have already a history of working well.

[DemBones DemBones]

18. Everyone is concentrating on pharmacists but

there are many doctors who won't prescribe oral contraceptives for a variety of reasons, one being that they believe they pose a danger to women who take them.

I don't have any problems with people exercising their conscience in the workplace as long as they're upfront about it and refer clients to someone else who will provide the service or merchandise the client wants.

Yes, it can complicate the life of people in one-pharmacy towns. There are many things you can't get in a town small enough to have only one pharmacy. I have actually lived in such a town, a town that had no physician at all, and no one knew how "Doc" R. kept his pharmacy open, since no one trusted him as a pharmacist as he was rumoured to be a heroin addict. Some gossip suggested he dealt illegal drugs. You could get a great soda or milkshake at the soda fountain in his drugstore, though.

If you wanted medication, other than OTC stuff you could get at the local grocery (one grocery store, too), you drove 20-30 miles to get it, or had someone get it for you when they were going shopping in a neighboring town. Today, you could order your meds off the internet, of course.

[XanaDUer]

19. You're right

Pharmacists don't have the powerful AMA behind them.

I feel that, as long as they pass it on, I can live with that. There should be NO delay in service, however. And in one-pharmacy towns, it's ridiculous.

[Lars39]

21. Their "beliefs" are based on a pseudo-science created

to further their agenda. They are trying to redefine pregnancy for political gain.
They need to go back and review their anatomy/physiology notes,
because being called incompetent will be the least of their worries when they start getting sued.

[DanCa]

22. First ammendement doesn't mean that they get to police others

You know I am just so greatful that I had parents that told me to respect the rights and beliefs of other people. I really wonder how these pharmicist would like it if I forced them to practice - just at random now - buddahism or the koran- . If they can't handle a part of a job they should just not appply.

[DemBones DemBones]

28. I'm a biologist and I can tell you that an embryo,

from the time of conception, has all the traits of living things, as used by biologists to distinguish living from nonliving things.

That's not pseudo-science, it's biological science. From conception, the embryo is alive. And, because it results from the union of a human sperm and human ovum, it is also human, from the moment of conception.

It was biology that made me pro-life. I was an atheist at the time.

[arwalden]

32. Um-hmmm. You're A Biologist? Really?

I think your choice of --and use of-- the word "alive" is deliberately misleading. The fertilized egg may be viable, but it's not "alive". It's living human tissue, but it's not "alive" nor is it a human being.

From the moment of conception it's an EMBRYO? Really? I thought the fertilized egg had to be implanted before it became an embryo. I could be wrong. Maybe wherever it is you got your degree in biology taught things differently from when I went to school.

Why do you use the RW language, RW logic, and RW talking-points?

[Maddy McCall]

35. Yeah, when (s)he's not a lawyer, police officer, or EMT.

:rolleyes:

Multi-talented, huh?

I'm skilled in physical anthro and I think I'm more informed than this "biologist."

[unblock]

36. from the moment of conception, it's first a zygote, then a morula,

then a blastocyst, then an embryo, and then a fetus.

implantation is not not necessary for it to be called an embryo; ivf facilities often create and freeze embryos for future implantation.

[unblock]

37. found a link:

http://health.allrefer.com/health/fetal-development-info.html

[arwalden]

38. Thanks!

:thumbsup:

[Maddy McCall]

33. Bull fucking shit.

Have you ever seen a zygote? Exactly what human traits does it posess? Yes, it has stem cells that will subdivide, if left intact, to the point that it will eventually become human, but no way can you say that a zygote (you said from the time of conception) has any type of exhibitable human phenotype. Genotype, which isn't exhibited, yes. Phenotype, no.

Be pro-life, if you want, but don't claim that some kind of professional position gives you more moral insight than those of us who are historians, clerical workers, or philosophers.

[Mairead]

40. DB, did you go to an RC college/uni?

I ask because of the interesting way you juxtaposed and contrasted two identifiers that seem to me to be orthogonal and unrelated: you were atheist, but are now pro-life. I'm sure it makes perfect sense to you, but it looks awfully strange from here.

[Dee625]

26. Don't think all (or even most) pharmacist are like that

Many of us are appalled at these "Pharmacists for Life" idiots.

By the way, I've never worked with this robot, but I do work with automated dispensing machines. They have to be refilled daily by humans, each drug checked by a real pharmacist. Then each prescription still has to be read, interpreted and entered into the computer by a real pharmacist who thinks about it's affect on the patient, interactions, etc. and consults with physicians if corrections are needed. I have to review labwork, history, x-ray interpretations, etc. to determine appropriate drugs and doses. Only after it has passed the human scrutiny does the automation take over.

Automation is a useful tool. Not a replacement (at least not yet).

[Hubert Flottz]

30. Rush hopes he's a Diebold brand robotic pharmacist...

Lameb@ll could write his own ticket then.

[XanaDUer]

31. Lol!

Good one. :)

[Crowdance]

34. Fewer errors

Aside from the lectures and moral posturing, robotic pharmacists would cut down on the wrong drugs or dosages being distributed. It happens with some frequency, and can have serious consequences.