The *Angriest* Pharmacist You want your prescription filled when? Eat shit…

Walgreens spins the hell out of USA Today's Article

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/

As expected, CEOs everywhere shit their pants and saw their stock investments drop in value all day long. You can check the stocks on WMT, CVS, and WAG -- their values over the last five days have dropped a half point. I'm not sure the affect the article had on it, but I'm betting it might have had something to do with it.

Anyway, you know the CEO's had to get the spin out to their pawns in the trenches. Here's what Walgreen's CEO Jeff Rein sent down to the pharmacy staff:

To all Walgreen employees:
Some of you may have seen a USA Today report in today’s paper about prescription errors at major drugstore chains. Unfortunately, Walgreens was included among the pharmacies highlighted. Any time a story like this appears, my biggest concern is that it will scare patients away from using medication that, in many cases, is life saving. I’m also concerned it unfairly portrays the work of our outstanding pharmacy staffs – and the efforts we make as a company – to ensure patient safety and provide them with the best care. For example, the story didn’t focus on the many positive initiatives the industry has made to ensure safety and promote pharmacists as a key part of the health care system.

I’m sure many of you will get asked questions about the story, whether it’s from family and friends, patients and customers or business partners. To help you answer those questions, I’m including some talking points at the bottom of this email. (Please remember that any questions from reporters should be referred to our Corporate Communications department.) In the meantime, I can’t say enough about the tremendous effort all of you make to improve our patients’ health. Every day, I hear great stories about how you’re making a difference for them.. Thank you!

Believe me, although the national news media may not recognize the care you’re providing, it’s very much recognized by everyone within our company and by our tens of millions of pharmacy patients.

Jeff Rein
Chairman and CEO

TALKING POINTS FOR FAMILY, FRIENDS, CUSTOMERS AND PATIENTS REGARDING THE USA Today REPORT:
* We’ve been in the pharmacy business for 107 years. No one has better systems or processes for filling prescriptions than we do.
* Regardless of whether a pharmacy technician is putting the pills in the bottle, a pharmacist checks and verifies every prescription before it’s dispensed.
* In the last 10 years, we’ve invested nearly $1 billion in pharmacy safety systems, safety training and new technology. That investment proves how seriously we take our responsibility to be error-free.
* Walgreens invented the electronic prescription 15 years ago. Electronic prescribing is a powerful tool for eliminating errors associated with handwriting, and we encourage its adoption by doctors.

So, what's wrong with his points for discussion? Let's start with point one. I think saying no one is better than you is conceited as best. Think you're infallible, Jeff? Ask Sears and Roebuck...Believe me, there's lots of people with better systems than you. I worked at Wally World for a bit -- and their system is better than your system. I worked at Walgreens during my first year of pharmacy school -- I quit after one semester because my experience sucked so bad. Upgrades since? Maybe. But, Walmart's technology still blows yours out of the water. Your shit might as well be PDX compared to Connexus.

Point two is null and void. Pharmacists can be idiots. Techs can be idiots. Just because a pharmacist checked a tech doesn't mean it's right. I've read studies saying that techs checking techs is just as accurate as a pharmacist checking techs. Do I think that's the right course of action? Hell no. But, it is an interesting thought and the data cannot be denied. Sometimes, it might be worth it to just suck it up and hire more people. But that'd cut into profits now AND later...wouldn't it?

Point Three? Bogus. 1 Billion dollars? Yeah right. Your profit last year was 15 billion. Why not take that billion and put it into staffing? I guarantee you that'd do more for decreasing errors than increasing your PRODUCTIVITY - which is what he's trying to say...and what their focus islll

Point four is an act of deferral. Placing the blame on the doctors rather than your substandard staffing and increased workload. See point 3. Also, it should be noted that eRx, to me, has been nothing but a clusterfuck. 1 in 5 eRx's that I receive is incorrect.Whether it's a stupid nurse, or a click-happy doctor, it's just as dangerous and error prone as a scribbled written prescription.