Onscreen Instructions

The most popular method for counting pills in a pharmacy is the good old counting tray with a tongue depressor for pushing the pills.  It is inexpensive in terms of the equipment required, but inefficient for counting out a month’s supply of drugs that are taken twice or more per day.  It is easy to understand and operate, but requires frequent cleaning to avoid cross contamination as the pills being counted are poured directly on to the hard counting surface.  Pills are usually poured by hand directly from the supply bottle in sufficient quantity to assure that the desired count can be reached, and then swept into a collection groove in small quantities (like five at a time) until the required count is reached.  The counting is done in the operators head.