The simple truth of retail chain pharmacy
http://drugtopics.modernmedicine.com/formulary-journal/content/simple-truth-retail-chain-pharmacy
From the article:
Make it work, or else
One day at work, I was operating in total chaos, trying to verify, review, and fill prescriptions while three phone lines were ringing, the drive-thru bell was buzzing, the line in the lobby snaked halfway across the store, the floor was hidden under 15 totes filled with drugs that hadn’t been put up in days, control invoices were scattered across the countertop, three people waited to get flu shots, and one person wanted a zostavax shot.
I turned to the female pharmacy manager next to me and asked her how on earth she managed such a place. She looked me straight in the eye and said, “I don’t, because I can’t.”
Six weeks later she was demoted in disgrace because she just wasn’t doing her job. The company placed a recent graduate in that store to manage it, primarily because no one else would consider taking the position. Two weeks after he assumed the title of “manager,” we were in a similarly chaotic environment and he looked over at me and said, “Charles, why is it that I just feel like I can’t do this job?”
This was two years ago and since the typical chain store’s Rx volume is up and staffing has been reduced …
Filed under: General Problems
Is this an older article? Regardless, it is even more true today. Recently, an older pharmacist was stripped of his PIC status by the DM who was “doing him a favor”. About 10 years ago, this pharmacist sold his inventory and files to a certain chain, went to work for them, and brought a sizable customer base with him. This same chain spit him out like an old piece of gum. Why? His “scores” did not “meet expectations”.
This obsession with speed and multitasking caused a dispensing error in our dept. Two pts with very very similar names had prescriptions for the same drug. Both were filled correctly. The mixup occurred at pick up. The drop off tech was doing triple duty as the production tech and cashier. The pt never even looked at the bottle and took a double dose of the medication for 2 weeks. We are still waiting for his lab results. But, what the heck. at least there were no rxs in the red.
This should put fear in our hearts…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/20/medication-errors-childre_n_6003902.html