Dr. Dean Edell: Pharmacists deal with hundreds of drugs everyday. Automated filling machines are helping them keep drugs sorted and prescriptions safe.
Kathryn Wesling: And we want to ensure that we are putting the correct drug into the machine, their safety features built-in where we scan the barcodes. And what I need to do is scan the shell and then I need to scan the bottle and make sure that they match.
Dr. Dean Edell: And that lets you know if there is a mistake. A pharmacist instructs the machine to fill an individual patient's prescription. The machine picks the right drug, the right doses, and the right count, so that the pharmacist can spend more time with patients.
Kathryn Wesling: While the machine is counting the medicine, they have got that couple of minutes to talk to me.
Dr. Dean Edell: Some pharmacies provide another way to keep patients on multiple medications from mixing them up. Color-coded packaging and easy-to-read labels are aimed at preventing mistakes once a patient gets home. Patients with access to the Internet can educate themselves about the medications they take.
Kathryn Wesling: Say if they are on five or six different medications, they can enter all of those and have it, pull up with their drug interactions.
Dr. Dean Edell: But pharmacists have a warning.
Kathryn Wesling: They have to be careful also if they are getting misinformation out. You know, are they using reliable websites?
Dr. Dean Edell: Still with good information, patients can be a partner in their healthcare. I'm Dr. Dean Edell.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services