TALLAHASSEE, FL (#WTXLDigital) - Hungry? Thirsty? Go to a vending machine. It's quick, easy, and you get want you want on the spot. However, what if you could your medications in the same manner you get a bag of Doritos?
You can get your prescription that fast at Florida State University.
The school is the first university to install a prescription dispensary on campus. FSU got it in 2012 when the new wellness center was built. Arizona State is the second school to receive the technology.
Both schools got the machine through InstyMeds, a company that focuses on creating "automated medication dispensing systems."
Dr. Andra Prum, medical director of the FSU Wellness Center, says that they reached out to InstyMeds to bring the dispensary to FSU because of convenience.
People call it a "vending machine." However, Dr. Prum and others at the Wellness Center will tell you that it's definitely not the same.
Patients must turn in their prescription to the front desk in order to get a slip that is to be used specifically for the dispensary. There's no other way to get those antibiotics, as well as other common medications, unless you have that slip.
How secure is this compared to a vending machine? Could something easily be tampered? Would someone be able to reach down and grab something out of it?
InstyMeds Vice President of Client Services, Robert Bang says that it is way to secure for anything to be tampered, and that of the thousands upon thousands of transactions, there is yet to be an error.
Pete Peterson, the IT Chief at FSU's Wellness Center, says that there are cameras inside and outside of the machine. The dispensary, which is located in a room near the check-in desk inside the facility, is under the watchful eye of employees.
Dr. Prum says that she sees this technology coming to other colleges: "When students are sick, they want to get everything they need as soon as possible."
Convenience is a main factor FSU brought it to campus. Dr. Prum says that students "just don't have access to get to a pharmacy."
Now, they have it with the click of a button.
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