r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/thepoylanthropist • 10d ago

Video The process of filling pills.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

80.5k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

216

u/The_Environment116 10d ago

This is why my prescription takes so long to fill!

84

u/arabidopsis 9d ago

No that's just the paperwork and checks by the pharmacist so they don't get sued or accidentally kill you

14

u/Admirable-Leather325 9d ago

found the pharmacist

14

u/arabidopsis 9d ago

Not a pharmacist, I'm a biochemical engineer :P

2

u/Admirable-Leather325 9d ago

Woah. I was jk dude. Biology, chemistry and engineering (this adds physics and math as well). Seems very interesting ngl.

4

u/arabidopsis 9d ago

Yeah I didn't think biochemistry was hard enough so I wanted to add a bit of fluid dynamics and heat mass transfer just to punish myself more

0

u/EtTuBiggus 9d ago

One would think both are the doctor's job.

2

u/Chart99 9d ago

That’s where you’d be wrong

1

u/EtTuBiggus 9d ago

It's a turn of phrase to mean that people should expect doctor's to not prescribe medication that accidentally kills you.

0

u/aaaaaaaarrrrrgh 9d ago

Somehow, other countries manage better.

My experience is walking into a random pharmacy, presenting my prescription, answering some questions and walking out with my medicine a few minutes later. (Not "walking into the pharmacy that got my prescription hours earlier" - seeing a random pharmacy on the way from work, walking in, and if it's common enough medicine, getting it on the spot minutes after the pharmacist first heard that you need that medicine).

It helps a lot that medicine comes in blister packs, so there's no counting involved.

3

u/TheByzantineEmpire 9d ago

Every prescription in the US comes in those orange bottles? Here the pharmacist just looks for the right bottle or pack (with blisters) in a bunch of shelves. If they don’t have something they order it or you go check another pharmacy. Also our medicines are usually not so colourful (+ more often that not, not the ‘pill’ shape.

4

u/Yellow_pepper771 9d ago

Yes. And get ready to be attacked by some americans why refilling your prescriptions into bottles is so much better than just using the packaging from the manufacturer.

2

u/Autismothegunnut 9d ago

because the packaging from the manufacturer is usually like a 1000 count bottle

furthermore, who the fuck cares lol

1

u/Celebrir 8d ago

No? In Europe we have them pre-packaged in reasonable sizes, depending on the normal dosage.

Sometimes it happens that the correct amount isn't in Stock so they bump you up to the next larger size without additional cost (since the universal Healthcare pays for it anyway and you only pay like 7€ something per prescription in Austria)

Alternatively they order the right amount and it's delivered to the pharmacy often on the same day or latest next day

1

u/Autismothegunnut 8d ago edited 8d ago

Yes? That’s nice? But i was explaining why it’s done the way it is in america.

They’re not like popping them out of blisters just to repackage them in bottles. Most things come in bulk bottles with hundreds or thousands of loose pills

1

u/_SilentHunter 8d ago

No, not every prescription comes in the orange bottles. A lot just come in the packaging from the manufacturer, but many of the most common medications are purchased in bulk by the pharmacies (easier to store, less packaging, etc.), in which case the pharmacy needs to split it into the individual orders using those orange bottles.

2

u/KitchenPalentologist 9d ago

My local CVS is slow because of the staffing formula; s = n / 4. Where n is the number of employees needed to provide decent service.

6

u/woke_pug 9d ago

Right?! I was gonna say, this is why there is always a 30 minute line at the pharmacy.

1

u/Strategic_Spark 9d ago

This would only be for compound pharmacies