What the kiosk does, and what it leaves to your pharmacist

People tend to ask two questions about a kiosk in a pharmacy: what can a customer actually do at it, and who is responsible for what comes back? This post answers both in plain terms.

Three ways to start

• Submit eScripts. The customer scans the token on their phone and chooses when they would like to collect. The request joins the pharmacy’s queue and the customer gets a status text. A queue number or status message is not a promise that a medicine is in stock or ready at a particular time; the pharmacy confirms that.
• Ask a pharmacist. A few short questions, a clear consent step, and the request goes to the pharmacist. The reply comes by text, or the pharmacist invites the customer to the counter to talk first.
• Find a product. Price and shelf location, on the kiosk. Product lookups stay on the kiosk and do not create work for the team.

Paper prescriptions and medicine collection stay with the pharmacy team at the counter, and the kiosk says so.

What happens next

An eScript or pharmacist request prints a work slip into the dispensary with a request number. That same number appears on the kiosk, in the staff queue and on the slip, so nothing gets lost between the shop floor and the dispensary. The pharmacist reviews the request, prepares a response, checks it and approves it. Nothing reaches the customer until a pharmacist has approved it.

What it deliberately leaves alone

• Clinical advice. The kiosk does not diagnose, prescribe or give advice from the screen. The pharmacist does that, in whatever way they judge appropriate.
• Emergencies. It is not for urgent help. In Australia, call 000.
• Your dispensing software. PharmAssist is the customer-facing entry point, not a replacement. Integrations are available on request, and we discuss compatibility before agreeing a setup.
• Promises about readiness. A status text tells the customer their request is being reviewed. It never says a medicine is ready until the pharmacy says so.

What happens to customer information

Information is collected to provide the service and support the pharmacy team. Health information is treated as sensitive. We do not sell personal information and we do not use health information for third-party advertising. Anyone can ask to access or correct their information by emailing us, and a participating pharmacy also has its own responsibilities for the information it handles.

For owners: the practical questions

• Where it goes. A visible, accessible spot on the central shop floor, or near the dispensary beside the prescription counter. We plan it around your layout.
• What it costs. A store-specific breakdown of equipment, setup, software, messaging and support, including any minimum term and GST, before you decide.
• What it could contribute. The calculator on the home page shows what a few extra product sales a day contribute at gross margin. The starting figures are assumptions, not a quote.
• Advertising. Brands can run campaigns on the kiosk’s idle screen. Campaign terms and pharmacy approval are agreed separately.

Every store is different. We talk through workflow, equipment, team training, support and a fallback with you before agreeing a setup.