Finally - Now they *may* listen

We should print out a thousand copies of that article and mail it to district and corporate.

But you know they can’t give us more hours because we have the big budget crunch. I really sympathize with what corporate is going through. BS. BS. BS.

You may also notice angriest that the guy with the “Gee Corpo is great and there looking out for everyone” line of crap (as he smiles with the thumbs up and jumps into the animated world of the next CVS pharmacy commercial) is going to law school (well if it’s so great why are you bailing ace). Here’s another totally stupid comment. He said something to the effect that and I paraphrase “Well let’s say your on an 8 hour shift, and then the mistake happens 4 hours in then well gee volume really wasn’t a factor.” I hate when stupid, illogical garbage like this goes unchallenged. This is an illogical assertion. If you fill 1000 RX’s in the first 4 hours then volume is a factor clueless. Volume in the pharmacy in my mind can be calculated as V = #RX’s/staff/time. Let me tell you time isn’t changing and the staff number is way too low. I worked at a Corpo and the bean counters always said you have enough help on Sunday (I was by myself all Sunday with 2 counters, 5 phone lines, and a drive thru) I would also like to say that I agree with them, in the sense that if you could divide the #RX’s by the hours in the day. The problem was that all the business came in during the first 4 hours. The other issue is that we are always doing someone elses job and not getting paid for it whether it be insurance issues, refills, or dealing with the stupidity that eventually reaches the pharmacy from the doctor’s office. Since, we are not, as a business, compensated for these endeavors we cannot hire staff for them, but it’s still your obligation. With regard to the older pharmacist talking about 100 RX’s waiting. That was one of my biggest complaints about pharmacy: you just can’t settle into the day. You walk in and find 40 in the cue, 3 people waiting (and looking pissed at you, as if your late, when you’re 15 minutes early) and another joker in the drive thru waiting for 1 of the 7 faxes that are already on the machine. Then when you politely go to the window, they ask if its done, and you say no. “Why not? It was faxed in an hour ago.” That’s correct, but we don’t open for another 15 minutes, and your fax has been staring at the ceiling in a closed pharmacy for an hour you ignaramous.

“Walgreens said Kennedy, who retired in 2006, isn’t current on today’s pharmacy conditions.”

2006!!! Its only 2008 now!! ROFL

The little fuck apparently hasn’t worked in a high volume pharmacy. Let’s see how much he’ll enjoy his corporate love affair. He needs to stop sucking corporate dicks.

I left retail 15 years ago. Guys, gals—I could NOT do it today. I’d vomit before the first shift was over. It’s like you’re all “Johnny Mnemonic,” having to stick a USB plug into your head to upload your necessary smarts for the day. I’m sure we’re glad this story ran, but it is long, long overdue.

550 a day for a ~third~ pharmacist?! You folks don’t know you’re born. Try coming over to the UK……

During my 14 hour shift yesterday, my CPhT mentioned that we had an e-mail from Corporate that gave ’suggestions’ on how to respond to customer inquiries about the USA-T article. In her infinite wisdom, she deleted it before sharing it with me (or anyone else for that matter). Not that it matters, after 30+ years in this business I can recite verbatim the Corporate propaganda protocol. Sadly, we have done this to ourselves, by not being activists for our profession. I’m encouraged by TPA, but realistically I think we are irreparably broken. I discussed ‘the future’ with my 1st year intern and she informed me that our local college of pharmacy DESPISES retail and PREACHES clinical. The future looks pretty bleak, if the pharmacy schools aren’t even addressing the problem…

Pharmacy students are taught by clinical pharmacists - they never see a retail pharmacy until their APE’s…unless they have a side job. They teach as if retail is “wasting your degree and education” is how my interns put it.

Then, the interns watch me show my knowledge in various ways and they are amazed at the education I got and still retain. Then they beg to differ. I earned it and apply it daily. Screw pharmacy schools and their accreditation standards. They’re all full of pompous pricks who think they’re ‘above’ the trenches. It’s like they want a separation - they want nothing to do with us. We’re now the untouchables. Welcome to India.

Well, for me the tip-off that the article was a farce was the “example” which included the 8-hour shift. What pharmacist only works 8 hours? I bet the bastard even gets an hour lunch break plus time to piss.

Errors can occur due to a number of factors… Md’s writing, pharmacist work overload, but the one factor that pisses me off most is patient in a rush and the one who gets upset at you when you try to consult and they look at you stupid like we’re wasting their time. They thumb their nose at you and tell you they can read what’s on the label and brush you off. They don’t realize it’s for their safety we’re doing this. Talk about ungratefulness.

Brick layers are only allowed to lay so many bricks per hour….why not pharmacy and rx’s per hour??

You guys do have the power. Do what other people in other businesses have done when they were being abused or mistreated. Organize, strike, demand better working conditions. Take a stance. It’s not as if there is a pharmacist excess.

I did retail for a few years. Had to leave…..was about to the point of putting a bullet in something or someone.

[...] The Angriest Pharmacist rants about a USA Today article about pharmacy workload. [...]

Maybe I’m blessed with outstanding pharmacists, so I might be alone on this one.
We do 800 RXs a day in my pharmacy. All prescriptions are double checked by a pharmacist before the label is printed out. All prescriptions are double checked by the pharmacist before verfied. Pharmacist has to have hard copy in hand before it goes to the bin. Most of the time, our waiters wait for no longer than 30 minutes.
We probably do not counsel as much as we should, but our IC+ makes it a requirement for some presciptions to be counseled or they cannot be sold.
I feel we do a fantastic job dispensing prescriptions at a high volume without making mistakes. I think some idiot pharmacists and CPhTs need to do a better job and focus on their job, which requires safety first.
Just my 2 cents though.

[...] By now, everyone in pharmacy world has read the USA Today article that I critiqued and ranted about in this post: http://www.theangriestpharmacist.com/2008/02/12/finally-now-they-may-listen/ [...]

I just tell ‘em either you get it fast or you get it correct. If they don’t want to wait for me to call the doc or figure out the handwriting or whatever they are told they can go to the grocery store across the street…they’re not busy and might be able to get it done faster.

I agree with JenRPh…I’ve been saying for years “I only work one speed…safe.”

[...] was discussing the USA Today Article with a local insurance salesman yesterday. We were talking about the ramifications of the article [...]

I love that BBPharmD!

“I work at the speed of SAFE”

Sounds like a great billboard line to me!

AMEN !!! again

I have worked retail hell at one of the biggest evil chains for 6 yrs, been a tech for 16 yrs total and now am going to pharmacy school- and no way in hell will I work retail after I graduate. I have worked at 2 different stores you know, the 24 hell stores that are in the crappiest neighborhoods, with the most ignorant, rude, welfare hags (with her 10 kids-each of them with different last names-that we are all paying for with our taxes but will refuse her kid’s antibiotic if she has to pay even a $1.00 copay, even though she just cost us another grand for the ER trip and nagged and bitched to my other wonderful customers about how long it should take to fill the damn rx even though she waited 5 customers deep in line and watched me tell everyone else it’d be that long as well)) We have the most ridiculous corporate policies,are understaffed but still fill 800-1000 rx’s a day, and at the end of my day I want to scream at the top of my lungs, knock out a customer, and wonder why I continue to torture myself this way. No one gets regular breaks- pregnant, sick, or whatever, my poor pharmacists barely get to use the damn bathroom, no one is allowed ot, and once a month corporate will come in and talk about how we can be more “efficient” will even less staff. If you want be filled with frustration and rage for 8 hrs a day, work here for a while, but it sounds like most of you do.

Angela, best run on sentence ever. I get the impression you work for Walgreens?

One of my friends were talking about this article the other day. She TOTALLY missed the point of the article, and thought that it was about lousy pharmacists making mistakes. She was surprised to find out that everyone in the field was THRILLED that this article was published.