You've got to imagine
the Japanese are green with envy right now, as the
BBC report not one, but
two different drug vending machines are being tested out under
Her Majesty's watchful eye. The first of these experiments is run by supermarket chain Sainsbury's, which has installed a pair of drug dispenser machines in its stores. They identify users by their fingerprint or a unique number, demand PIN verification too, and then finally accept your prescription. Then -- and this is the really silly part -- a pharmacist comes along, picks up your prescription, fills it out, and deposits it in the machine for you to pick up. So it's impersonal and unnecessarily convoluted,
great. PharmaTrust seems to have a slightly better idea with its videophone-equipped, ATM-style robo-vendor: it's intended to allow pharmacists to approve prescriptions off-site and out of usual working hours by letting them speak to you via videophone. It could in fact be a big benefit in more remote areas, depending on how patients take to it -- we'll know more when the trial starts up in participating hospitals this winter.
posted August 16th 2010 7:36AM
Awesome
@chattyuk You won't be saying that when the person on the other end is in a call centre in god-knows-where with questionable pharmacy training.
I wonder if these things dispense prescription weed...
*puts balls in microwave*
@PaulMdx
Racist.
@chattyuk
The addicts would be hanging around these machines looking to rob anyone who picked up meds. Also I hate touching public telephones, and if I have to (for example when I'm accepting another assassination mission) I make sure that it never touches my face.
@chattyuk : hello, HellooOoo!...it burns when I pee!
@One Love
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that - please can you speak up a bit?"
@RandomSpoon Only in California, for now...
@fendz
I see you've been planning this for a while...
:p
@Apple Google Microsoft
Lucky for you it will dispense your OCD Rx.
@chattyuk
Old news, has been at Sunnybrook hospital (Toronto) for some time and is looking to be a success:
http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/life/health/article/10531--drug-dispensing-machines-may-change-the-way-you-fill-your-next-prescription
The main problem is that the vending machines are no better than a real pharmacist for reading doctors scrawl. /s
Give me via Viagra now!!!!
@brianM
Find a sexier partner.
sweet! my dealer's neighborhood isn't exactly in the best area
Great. Giving robots the power to overdose us.
Now I can't wait for the robot apocalypse.
**sigh**
So a naked pharmacist can refill my zanax at 2 AM? yes, that should help me sleep.
A CCTV mention expertly slipped in as usual.
@GeorgeRobo
I know, its getting pretty boring..
Only the British could invent a manually operated automatic system.
@rederikus
Still wondering how they could lose half a planet of colonies?
@rederikus
Well, we already invented everything else...
@mondaymorning
Since when is Apple British?
@rederikus
PharmaTrust is an Oakville, Canada based company. So you blame the Canadians. First we put all our money in Nortel, then RIM, then this. I'm a lumberjack so I'm OK.
@mondaymorning
Say whaaat? give Japan some credit!!
I wonder how this interacts with the NHS death panels.
awe man i tought it was for illegal drugs for second, how cool would that be, dispensing weed with your state id and you can only have it on fridays as to not affect productivity. yeah my kind of vending machine. think of the revenue it could bring, it would solve all our deficit problems.
Ummm... that is an old school telephone!
@Picaso4me
So your phone can dispense pharmaceuticals? From where, the mouthpiece?
@Canucker
....Sorry, see what you mean in the picture. That's actually her vibrator (specifically developed for pharmacy phone sex).
I like that. Whoever said the U.S is the best country on earth has never left U.S soil.
Hi Professor Oak, how's my Krabby doing?
@Adisah
What...it's evolving??
*dun..dun..dun..dun..dun..dun..dun*
Good luck doing that in the US. Litigation risks would kill the idea.
I can see it now "Hey Doc, wheres my Methadone?" " what you're all out" Freaks out and trashes said doctor box. Then all you hear in a soft whimper "Hey doc, i need some band-aids."
Creepy and convoluted. Here's an idea- how about you put the drugs on the SHELF, so people can just walk in and pick them up like any other store.
So, am I the only one who thought of pokemon when they saw that picture?
@Seoki
nope, see above =)
POKEMON =D POKEMON :D POKEMON =D YAY :D
Okay if this still needs a human being to do the actual dispensing, what's it for and how did it get this far into testing? I would really prefer just to go to a normal chemists.
The thing in the picture reminds me of those televideo things in the Pokemon Anime.