While reading a trade publication recently, I read about a drugstore chain in New York City was about to open its largest store on Wall Street. According to the New York Times blog it is "the most exciting drugstore in the world." It features a grocery market, smothie bar, a hair salon for shampoos, blow-dries, and blowouts, a nail bar for manicures and massages, and - get this - a sushi bar!
Now, I for one, would love to see good sushi bars in just about all the places I go, but maybe not a pharmacy. It's scary enough to see them in malls, but maybe that's just me. If you notice though in most new stores being built, they carry more than one line of products. Wal-Mart, as an example, has a pharmacy as well as in some stores a McDonalds, bank, hair care, and even clinics! One stop for all of your needs is their goal which I suppose they have done so in certain respects.
Now though, in some clinics, there are vending machines that dispense prescription drugs. This, in my opinion, is pretty scary. While it can be argued that a pharmacist is an old-fashioned type of a vending machine, how many vending machines can give advice on what you are taking or what type of side effects can be expected from the medication.
The company that owns the vending machines defend its use as a time-saving mechanism. We here at Heritage Pharmacy do our best to make sure you are not having to endure long waits and have taken measures to avoid such instances. But tell me, how can a vending machine provide potentially life threatening advice on your medications?
There is no substitute for face-to-face consultations when dispensing medication and the focus should be on you the person, not yellowfin sashimi.
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