Prescription errors are relatively simple medical negligence claims. If the order was for 10 mg pills three times a day, and the prescription is filled for 100 mg pills three times a day, something went wrong. That’s not the judgment call of a physician, that’s an error in communication, a systems error, a simple counting error, or some combination thereof. No one is perfect, but a pharmacy should have checks that prevent such potentially deadly errors from occurring.

One solution has been to get rid of the people, and allow robots to fill the orders. That’s what has been happening for the last five years at UCSF Medical Center, where robots have filled thousands of prescriptions with 100% accuracy.

This advancement in technology – and apparently, patient safety – has forced some in the profession to question the future of pharmacists. That future may include new responsibilities, including the authorization to prescribe some medications like birth control and nicotine replacements. It may also include more time spent following up with the patient to determine if the medication is working, or whether there are any significant side effects. These are tasks that robots cannot do, at least not yet.

You can read more about this here:

[Robots Are Now Handling Pills. Will Pharmacists Be Liberated or Out of Work?](http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/2016/04/28/when-a-robot-counts-out-your-pills-what-will-your-pharmacist-do/)

Interestingly, if you ever find yourself as a patient at UCSF, a robot may fill your prescription, and another one, called a Tug robot, may deliver the medication to the nurse’s station on your floor. Technology!