The problem we kept seeing at the counter

We’re two pharmacists. Between us we’ve managed busy pharmacies and worked across more than 30 stores, and the same scenes kept repeating wherever we went.

A customer three aisles away turns over their fourth bottle of magnesium, puts it back and leaves with nothing. A queue forms at the script counter at five o’clock, and someone walks straight back out when they see it. A pharmacist in the middle of a dispensing check is interrupted for a question that could have waited two minutes, then interrupted again.

None of this is anyone’s fault. A pharmacy is a health service and a shop at the same time, and the person with the answers is also the person with the most to do.

What was missing

The advice, the stock and the goodwill were always there. What was missing was a calm way for a customer to get started on their own, and for that request to reach the team in an orderly way, without anyone hovering at the counter.

That is the whole idea behind PharmAssist. An in-store kiosk that does three simple things: takes an eScript, takes a question for the pharmacist, and helps someone find a product’s price and shelf location. Your team takes it from there.

Where we drew the line

We were clear from the start about what the kiosk should not do. It does not give clinical advice. It does not decide anything. It collects a request, prints a work slip into the dispensary and places the request in the team’s queue. A pharmacist reviews it and decides how to respond, whether that is a text message or a conversation at the counter.

We think that is the right shape for technology in a pharmacy: built around the pharmacist, not instead of them. Three principles guide every workflow we write.

• Safety before speed. Calm, structured questions and clear escalation points, because a quick answer is only useful when it is a responsible one.
• Technology around pharmacists. The software organises requests; it does not remove the pharmacist from the decisions that need professional judgement.
• Close to every installation. We write each workflow ourselves and personally install every store, so feedback reaches the people building the product.

What we hope it changes

For customers, a clearer start and a response they can trust. For pharmacy teams, fewer interruptions and a queue they can see. For owners, more of the sales and goodwill that currently walk out the door, measured instead of guessed.

If you run a pharmacy and this sounds familiar, we would like to talk. Try the kiosk on this site, then tell us about your store.