AI phone receptionist for pharmacies

What an AI phone receptionist does in a pharmacy

An AI phone receptionist answers the number on the door, talks the way someone at the till would, and then does something with what it heard. It repeats the hours you entered. It says whether you marked today as duty. It confirms a named box only if that box is on the list you gave it. Or it writes the request down and puts that note in front of the pharmacist.

The first thing it has to get right is which of those three calls this is. “Do you have X”, “are you open”, and “are you on duty tonight” are not the same job. An assistant that starts with a time is answering a question nobody asked. These callers want a yes or a no they can act on before they cross the street.

A caller who rang in English gets the SMS in English. A caller who rang in Greek gets it in Greek. The assistant works in 70+ languages. The text follows the language of the call.

The counter is full and nobody can leave it

Late afternoon. The queue is at the glass. You are matching an e-prescription to a box on the screen. The person in front of you still has a question. Behind them, two more. If you have an assistant, they are in the back for a tin. The phone rings.

Nobody can pick up. Both hands are on the box, or on the keyboard, or on the bag you are sealing. The person at the counter cannot be left mid-dispense.

The rush is after work, on the first of the month when the chronic scripts come in, on a Saturday morning, on a Sunday when you are the only green cross still lit. Hiring someone for the quiet morning does not free a pair of hands at 19:10. Two lines and the same two hands still leave the third caller ringing.

The person who wanted a named tin is often already on the street. They can see your door and the next pharmacy from where they are standing. They hang up and ring the other one.

Do you have this box

They name a box they will buy tonight if you have it. The call goes wrong if the assistant invents what is on the shelf.

They name a tin, a cream, a cuff, a thermometer, a box they already take. Sometimes they name a brand and a size. Sometimes they hold up a photo and read the letters they can see. The honest answers are short: yes, that item is on today’s list; I do not have the shelf in front of me, I will take a note; we are open until this time if you want to come in and ask the pharmacist.

Yes is allowed only for what you marked. A catalogue is not what is in your drawer. An assistant that says “yes” because the name sounds common sends someone across the neighbourhood for an empty shelf, and they do not come back for the next tin.

If the name is not on the list, it takes the name as they said it, a size if they gave one, and a number. You call back when you can leave the counter. It does not fill the silence with another brand. “We also have…” is advice. It is not availability.

Baby formula, a specific cream, a blood-pressure cuff — these are the calls where a wrong yes wastes their walk and leaves your drawer untouched. Write down the items the way you would for someone who has never opened the back cupboard. If that list is empty, every stock call is a note. That is safer than a guessed yes.

Hours, the midday close, the evening open

A caller who asks “are you open now?” is not making conversation. They are on a pavement, or in a car, deciding whether to turn.

Greek pharmacy hours are not a single weekday strip. You open in the morning. You close in the middle of the day. You open again in the evening. Wednesday afternoon is often dark. Saturday is often morning only. Sunday is duty or nothing. August adds a tourist who rang in English and does not know any of that.

The assistant repeats the hours you entered for this day. It does not smooth them into “we close at eight.” If you close at 14:30 and open again at 17:30, those are the two times it must be able to say. A caller who hears “yes, we are open” at 15:10, walks to a locked door, and does not ring you again.

“What time do you close this afternoon?” is its own question. So is “are you open Saturday morning?” So is “are you already closed for midday?” Answer the one they asked. Monday at 09:00 does not tell them whether to turn the car around on Saturday.

After you lock the door the same hours still have to be true. A night caller is asking whether to come now, not whether to book Thursday.

Are you on duty tonight

A caller at 21:40 does not want an appointment. They want to know if your green cross is the one still lit. On a Sunday, on a holiday, after the evening close, that is the whole call.

Greece runs a rota. You are on duty some nights and not others. The neighbourhood already knows to ask. If you are on the list tonight, say so, and say until when. If you are not, say so. Do not send them to the door on a Sunday you are dark. Do not invent the next pharmacy on duty. You do not have that list in your head for every street, and the assistant must not pretend it does.

Yesterday’s “we are on duty” left in place is how someone walks across the neighbourhood at midnight for a dark shop. Change today’s line when the rota changes, the way you change the sign on the door. If today is not marked, it takes a note or reads the one sentence you wrote for that case — not a guess.

A caller who asks “which pharmacy is on duty in this area?” is asking for a public list you may not have in front of you. The assistant can say whether you are on duty. It cannot name the next door.

The e-prescription on the phone

Someone wants to know if they can pick up. They have an AMKA, or a barcode, or a name. They are in a car. They do not want to queue if the box is not there.

The assistant takes the name as they said it, the AMKA or the barcode as they read it, and a number. It reads those back. It does not say the medicine is ready. It does not say the e-prescription has been issued. It does not say there is a bag waiting. That check is yours, on the screen, with the person in front of you or after you have looked.

A pickup note is a request. It is not a dispense.

If they ask whether a repeat is already at your door because a doctor sent it, take what they said. Do not tell them it is already there.

“When will my cream be ready?” is a note with a name, not a time the assistant invents to sound helpful. You know when the prepared cream is done. The assistant does not.

What it must never say

It will not give medicine advice. It will not give a dose. It will not say “take this instead” when the named box is missing, or when the caller only has a symptom.

“I need something for a cough.” “What is the strongest.” “The baby has a temperature, what do I give.” “I can’t take the white one, what else is there.” Those are pharmacist calls. The assistant writes the words down, in their words, and puts the note in front of you. It can say you are open. It can say someone will call back. It cannot pick a box from a description.

A substitute is advice. Naming another brand is advice. “Usually people take…” is advice. If the named tin is not on the list, the next sentence is a note or an invitation to the counter — not a second name.

If they describe something that sounds urgent — the phrases you put on a short list — it follows the escalation you wrote. A named phone, or the sentence you want said. It does not choose a medicine on the way.

Write that ban as one line in the setup. Do not type a dose into the notes and expect it to stay quiet. If the assistant has the number, it will say the number. If a dose must not be said from the phone, do not give it the dose.

If you book a time at all

Most of the volume is not a booking. Some of you do take a time: a flu jab in season, an injection, a measurement you actually offer, a compounded cream they will collect. If you do, the assistant checks the calendar you already use before it offers a time, writes the time in, and texts the confirmation.

If you do not book those things, do not give it a book. An assistant with an empty calendar and a helpful tone will invent a time you then have to take back. Tell it what you do not offer, in the notes, the way you would tell a new hire.

A time is offered only after the calendar says that time is free. Most callers still want hours, a named box, or tonight’s duty.

How CITT handles it

1. Your number stays on the door. A forwarding rule at the provider sends what you do not answer. Calls the counter picks up never leave the shop.
2. Every line is answered at once. An evening burst is a set of conversations, not a stack of rings.
3. It knows the pharmacy you described. Hours including the midday close, whether you are on duty today, which named items it may confirm, where to stand at the door, how pickup notes reach you.
4. It sorts the call before it talks. Stock, hours, duty, pickup, or a question it must not answer.
5. It confirms stock only from the list you marked, and takes a note for everything else.
6. It checks the real calendar before it offers a time, if you book anything at all, and writes that time into the same book you already use.
7. It confirms by SMS, in the language of the call — 70+ languages — the hours, a duty answer, or a pickup note.
8. It escalates what cannot be finished on the call — a dose, a substitute, a symptom, a compounding ready-time — as a note for you, not as a guess.
9. You get the transcript, the summary, and the box or hours the caller named.

What it will not do

It will not give medicine advice. A cough, a temperature, a cream for a rash — those are notes, not recommendations.

It will not give a dose. If a number must not be said from the phone, do not put that number in the notes.

It will not say “take this instead.” A missing tin is a missing tin. The next name comes from you, at the counter or on a callback.

It will not invent stock. If the item is not on the list, it has not looked in the drawer.

It will not invent hours or tonight’s duty. It repeats what you entered for today. If yesterday’s duty is still entered, it will say you are open.

It will not say an e-prescription is ready. It takes the name and the AMKA. You look.

It will not name the next duty pharmacy on another street. It can say whether you are on duty.

What these calls sound like

The order is which call this is, then the fact you actually have, then the offer to take a note. There is no dose. There is no second brand. There is no “I’m sure we have something like that.” There is no “come now” on a Sunday you are not on the rota.

If the assistant is friendly and still confirms a tin you do not have, they walk in, stand in your queue, and leave without a bag. A no on the phone, or a note you return, is better than a yes you cannot stand behind.

What you set up first

Put the assistant on the number on the door with a forward-on-no-answer rule, so a free pair of hands at the counter still takes the call. Then today’s hours, including the midday close and the evening open, and whether you are on duty this date. Then the list of named items it may confirm. Then the one line that forbids advice, a dose, and a substitute.

Give it the pickup fields you already ask for — name, AMKA or barcode, a number — and do not give it a sentence that says the medicine is ready. Add where to stand at the door, whether you have a step or a bell, and the languages you actually hear in August.

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