http://health.wusf.usf.edu/post/safety-questions-arise-pharmacy-staffing-bill

Safety Questions Arise on Pharmacy Staffing Bill

When you figure that the typical RPH has two eyes & two ears.. and expected to oversee SIX TECHS ?

From the article:

The bill sharply raises the number of technicians who can be assigned to a single pharmacist for supervision, from a maximum of three to six.  And it takes away the Florida Board of Pharmacy’s power to keep the ratio below the limit in cases where it sees a risk.

This legislation seems to tie the hands of the FL BOP… in oversight of their primary charge  patient health & safety !

HB 671 has split the pharmacy community. Its supporters are chain drugstores and mail-order facilities.  

Who could have seen this coming ?

Those who are supposed to protect the public are also split. Members of the Board of Pharmacy first voted to support the bill, when most of the pharmacists who made it to the phone meeting had ties to regional or national chains. But the vote was overturned at the next meeting, when community and hospital pharmacists were able to attend. It was a squeaker: 5 to 4.

Members who had missed the first vote said they had been given no warning that the board would be weighing in on the tech bill. They said they were astounded when they found out. And concerned.

The chains say that giving pharmacists more techs would let them shed some of their routine duties to concentrate on higher-level work, such as studying the patients’ chart to make sure the appropriate drug has been ordered and doesn’t conflict with another one, and counseling patients on how to use medications correctly.

How many times have we heard this… only not to see it materalize in the long term ?

Proponents say the trend nationally is toward expanding the number of techs. Seventeen states have no limits on how many techs a pharmacist can supervise, they say, and there is no evidence of patient harm.

Yes… and only 17 states mandate serious med errors to be reported to the BOP and the permit holder determines what med error was serious enough to be reported…  Maybe there is no reference of harm because nearly all are settled with $$$ and confidentially agreement and buried in the corporate archives…  Transparency resembles that of a sold brick wall…

Proponents say the higher tech ratio is voluntary; pharmacists don’t have to take advantage.

YEA… only if you are employed by one of the corporate chains… and you don’t want to keep your job…

One final comment …. OMG…. WTF !!!

 

 

 

Filed under: General Problems