Comments on: Why Does it Take so Long to Fill a Prescription?

By: Tim W

Tim W — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:54:47 +0000

I can understand why it might take more time for a new prescription or a new customer.

Entering patient information, allergies, and insurance along with providing a thorough consult seems like it could legitimately take 10-15 minutes.

But I still don’t understand why it takes 45 minutes to an hour for me to pick up the same prescription I’ve been getting for a year.

1. Take the order
2. Enter it into a computer system
3. Put it in a bag
4. Double check it
5. Give it to the customer

They manage to do this at McDonald’s in around 2-3 minutes. What am I am missing?

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:11:34 +0000

Yeah I don’t get this 20 mintute wait time thing. I’m getting a prescription filled today at Publix and I was told it will be ready in two hours! I think that the pharmacy system is broken and no one want’s to admit it.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:28:51 +0000

Wow! Only a 20 minute wait, I dream to have that again. It now takes 3-5 hours for them to fill at my pharmacy.

By: GINA

GINA — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:00:33 +0000

JAMES–YOU ARE AN IDIOT!

By: Mark Carlson

Mark Carlson — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:50:02 +0000

Can you amagine how much business a pharmacy could get if they could figure out a way to do this in 5 minutes or less. If everything was designed with that goal in mind I’ll bet it could be done. I’ll bet they could make enough money tpo pay a full staff of Pharmasist if that’s what it would take.

By: James

James — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:08:34 +0000

The 20+ minute wait times at pharmacies occur because the people who work at pharmacies, just like the person who wrote this article, enjoy wasting our time. It is a mere matter of observation. Watch the pharmacist pace back and forth with no real sense of urgency.

Case in point is the article above:
References to other professions that are completely unrelated.
Everyone knows a 30 minute oil change is fast because we see the grease monkeys hustling around the garage, real hands on work.
And what in the hell does a pharmacy have to do with a deli.

A monkey throwing darts could fill your prescription in under 20 minutes.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:40:53 +0000

Excellent explanation! I want my pharmacist and pharmacy technician to take their time and provide life-saving information and accuracy concerning all my prescriptions. I am prepared to wait for this important part of my health care. Thank you!

By: Save Time at the Pharmacy « Pharmerdon’s Weblog

Save Time at the Pharmacy « Pharmerdon’s Weblog — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:58:47 +0000

[...] why it takes 15 minutes or more to fill a prescription. I have addressed this in a recent article (Why does it take so long to fill a prescription?). Since you cannot safely make the pharmacy staff work faster how do you get in and out of the [...]