I have never even heard of that.

Oh, I had forgotten about that, but utilized it when l had to go to emergency with a horrible cat bite that got out of hand. Seemed like a great idea at that time of the night!

Having taken someone to the ER on Christmas eve night and then tried to find an open pharmacy for pain meds, I think this is brilliant!

I hadn't heard of this type of machine used for patients, but hospitals have been using them for staff for years. We have one called an "omnicell". Pyxis is another popular one. It doesn't take 5 minutes, maybe 5 seconds to dispense the drug. I love it, because I don't have to worry about stocking meds or patient charges. I think it's a great idea.

Brilliant.

I work in an upscale Trauma Hospital, and have never heard of this. Years ago, you were able to have your prescription filled there if you received it at the hospital. Not so anymore. There are a few all night pharmacies open in the area though.

I've never heard of a trauma center described as "upscale" before. I wonder if they are exclusive.

Its a cost saver and money maker. Its impersonal and eliminates people to run the dispensing counter. I'm not sure about one thing, though. Our drug stores require that the druggist must speak to you about the usage of a medication before he/she can release it to you. In some cases, if its a refill for something you have been taking for a long time, they merely ask you if you have any questions.

Personally, I think its a downgrade of service.

"Not sure if this was just because it was the middle of the night or how it operates all the time."

Could be a combination of the time of day/night as well as eliminating the risk factor of someone trying to steal narcotics from a hospital pharmacy that has minimal staff on duty in the middle of the night.

For me, there are some things that should not be automated, and drug dispensing to patients is one of them. If you are in a hospital setting, an ER in particular, you are probably being prescribed medications that are new to you. I think in those situations, it is imperative to have a human pharmacist available to tell you how to take the medication, interactions to be aware of, and to answer any questions you may have. I believe people take the dangers of prescription medication too lackadaisically these days, and a robot pharmacist just adds to that perception. This is not a soda or bag of chips we are talking about. Prescription drugs can certainly be of great benefit, but can also cause great harm if not use protocols are not followed. I also like having a pharmacist make a visual check to ensure the drugs dispensed by the robot are actually the drugs you are supposed to be receiving.

These machines sound like a good solution to the problem of not being able to find a true pharmacy open at late hours, etc., but I believe they should be used on an exception basis only.

Jay -- I have never had a prescription dispensed by a machine. However, I have had a human pharmacist dispense the wrong medication to me; and I have also had a human pharmacist (on more than one occasion) dispense the wrong number of pills of the correct medication. The term "human error" was coined for a reason.

I'm not suggesting pharmacists are infallible. Indeed, I'm suggesting that humans do make mistakes and placing the incorrect medication into the robot is a mistake that will inevitably be made. Having a second verification that the correct medication was dispensed, while not perfect, is preferable to no verification whatsoever.

Makes me worry about my grandaughter who is planning on going to pharmacy school when she graduates college in 2017. Hope she isn't replaced by a machine. I had hoped she would just go ahead and enter medical school......maybe she will.

I too am wondering about upscale? I work in a level 1 trauma center at an ivy league teaching hospital. There are many indigent people seen, and it's the last line of defense for many of them. Doesn't sound upscale?

I highly doubt we'd ever get one of those medication dispensing machines, although I'd love to since the pharmacist seems to want to make absolutely sure you know all about your medications, its side effects, and let the waiting room visitors know too. It's all within ear shot (privacy issues!), and honestly, I've taken my meds for years. I really do know all about it and its side effects.

No, it wasn't 5 seconds! LOL Not even close! Plus, I had to wait for someone ahead of me and I waited until I nearly collapsed, probably 10-15 min, then got a wheelchair and sat in one for another 5-10 min anyway while she got hers. She even apologized for how long it was taking but I said it wasn't her fault. The machine in the video is like the one I used. The screen gave a progress report on a little line graph similar to installing software or updates on a computer. I watched as it was printing the label, probably 45 sec to a minute, then about the same as it was "applying label", releasing bottle took about a minute, then for it to actually drop the bottle probably took another minute. One prescription was 2 bottles. (Blister packs inside a prescription bottle.

I was thinking at first it would be loaded from behind, in a secure area, but from the video, it's not. What a labor intense thing that would be! Can't tell if it automatically rotates stock or not, if not, you'd essentially need to remove all stock, then back-load the new items, counting what you have of old stock to put back, essentially 100 times, all the while it would be open and vulnerable to robbery. I suppose they might just close off the area to semi-secure it but if someone wanted it, it could be easy pickings and not even have the slowdown of a traditional pharmacy.

As for security, the pharmacies at other hospitals I've seen are far more secure than this machine, especially considering low-staffing. The little hole with bullet-resistant glass with the shuffle tray and a heavy locked door for access to the people and drugs, plus a heavy locked door to enter the area anyway. Late night you'd get "buzzed" in.

Lindsey_CA, not sure if the risk factor you mentioned is employee theft, but this to me is a much higher potential risk of a stocker slipping a bottle or two into a pocket. There may be electronic features of the machine to verify the number of bottles put in and it would have to match what's sent, etc, but there's also a quick substitution of an empty bottle possibility. I'd be much more confident of the security of the traditional pharmacy than the vending machine.

The more I think of it, the more I like the idea of it as an option. However, I'm sure many on Medicare would not want to use it for the cost factor. I'm pretty sure it's more expensive than a big name pharmacy. And of course, yes there's those who need it immediately and don't want to make a separate stop, cost be d@mned. And the time factor would be offset by the added time to go to another location.

The point about counseling is a good one. Over the past few years and seeing the incompetence, malfeasance and downright malpractice of nursing homes I have become very obsessive about checking for interactions on medications. One of the meds prescribed at the hospital has the following warning from drugs.com, but no warning on the bottle and no accompanying paperwork. "...may reduce (effects) in some patients...combining these medications can increase the risk of a rare but serious condition...which may include symptoms such as confusion, hallucination, seizure, extreme changes in blood pressure, increased heart rate, fever, excessive sweating, shivering or shaking, blurred vision, muscle spasm or stiffness, tremor, incoordination, stomach cramp, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea." Granted to cover backsides they may overemphasize things but then again considering the drug interactions and effects that have found to be serious to deadly, I tend to want as much info as I can get on them.

The pharmacy I usually use has a printout attached to each med and if I have not had a drug prescribed before the pharmacist is nearly insistent to point out anything serious. And the cover bottles with warning stickers too.

Oh, and I just noticed "emergency room" is improper now too. It's "Emergency Care Center". I stand corrected and apologize profusely.

Rob, this is unrelated to the topic, but you said you work at an Ivy League teaching hospital? For some reason I thought you lived in Tennessee. Do they have teaching hospitals in different locations?

I used one of these when I had to go in to the ER in the middle of the night. I was glad it was there as I live in a very rural area and there are no pharmacies open at night. I asked and was told that they don't use it in the day when the pharmacies are open. They only use it at night. Makes sense to me at least in this area.

I've never heard of this before. I hope you are well on the mend by now, Cynic.