Walgreens plans centralized robotic pharmacies

Alpha8472
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Re: Walgreens plans centralized robotic pharmacies

Post by Alpha8472 »

The way Walmart pharmacies work is that each pharmacy has a separate license so transferring prescriptions between pharmacies is a whole bunch of trouble. They cannot fill prescriptions at a less busy pharmacy and transport them to another pharmacy. Central filling is not something Walmart is set up for.

Walmart really does not need that as Walmart usually has very low workloads compared to other pharmacies. Their new ordering system automatically orders medications and keeps inventory restocked by computer control. The employees sit back and have very little to do. Walmart's software is some of the best in the industry that automates many tasks and cuts down on what employees have to do. Many employees have commented on how easy it is to use compared to other pharmacy chains such as CVS.

The problem is that CVS and other chains such as Walgreens have very inefficient systems. For example, prescriptions at Walgreens are piled into bins by names. Prescriptions get lost all the time and employees have to hunt through mountains of disorganized prescriptions. Walmart has a computer system that organizes prescriptions into numbered bags. This saves employees time and keeps track of prescriptions at all times. Walmart designs software to make the workload easy and reduce employee stress.

Walmart realizes that keeping employees happy is better than working them like slaves. CVS and Walgreens understaff their pharmacies and this causes burnout and high employee turnover. Walmart pays less, but Walmart employees in the pharmacy stick with the job as the staffing levels are good. The workload is easy, and employees are able to get their work done with as little stress as possible. Walmart's software has multiple levels of double checks for patient safety. Other pharmacy chains do not put patient safety first. CVS and Walgreens just want to get prescriptions filled as fast as they can, and worry about safety second.

When I was at CVS the robot filling machine was a mess. The pill bottles would back up at the end of the conveyor belt and the pills would spill out and fall into the wrong bottles. The pharmacist would have to pour out all the pills and check to make sure no stray pills got into the wrong bottle.

The robot fills faster than a human, but the pill mix ups are worse. Then you have to recount again by hand. That is double the work in some cases. Then mistakes happen if the robot is filled with the wrong medication. Then all those prescriptions get the wrong pills and have to be redone again. The employees are so busy that they never clean the robotic machine. The tubes are all cross contaminated from all the different pulls passing through. The bottom of the filling machine is littered with dropped pills that never get cleaned up. It is a mess and you know some of those dropped pills have been in the machine for years and are expired. They are going to end up in someone's prescription bottles one of these days. Robotic automation is not what you hope it will be.
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