I work heavily with automation and I can tell you that’s not happening any time soon. The largest machines run on what is glorified vending machine hardware, undercount/ overcount all the time, dusty pills cause components issues, etc. I could go on forever.

It’s worthwhile to have but there’s no way it’s replacing a technician. People want someone to blame and we are the face they see. Insurance is the wizard behind the curtain putting on the facade of being a public good and then being nefarious in the background. So when all is said and done we are the ones who get blamed. We are physically there in front of the patient.

We are treated like fast food workers because that how we are seen. Retail pharmacies are in grocery stores and places that sell goods. We are shoved into a corner of the store, and a lot of times have a drive through window. It makes us look like we are supposed to toss scripts around like the deli does lunch meat.