shared this a few years ago, still no less true…
I want to share a small parable with you… Please keep in mind that a parable is a made up story, written or told to illustrate a point… So here goes… A “manager” did everything in his power to schedule his pharmacy to what the company demanded… According to the company’s mandates, everyone was to schedule much lower than the manpower each “manager” needed to get their pharmacy’s work done… If the corporation could save money by giving employees less hours, the managers were supposed to do it, so the company could (somehow) make more money by saving on wages rather than make money by getting the work done… It was already a stressful environment with the phones ringing constantly, situations not working out as planned, and customers complaining loudly that everything was taking too long… But the corporation didn’t care about this… They wanted to see profits being made on the bottom line so that they looked good to the shareholders… Even if the stores were already financially successful, the corporation felt that these stores could be more successful… Even if the environment in the pharmacies went from stressful to impossible… It was hard before to get all the work done and the Rx orders checked accurately, but now it was next to impossible to get the order out in time and the employees were all stressed beyond belief… But still the “manager” tried his best to be a good little employee and to make his corporation happy… He scheduled his employees to the demands his company imposed… Several of his contemporaries had written letters to their state’s Board Of Pharmacy to alert them of these dangerous situations, but every letter had gone unanswered and ignored… On one particular night, the manager was working, and the customers were milling around and waiting impatiently for their Rxs… The “manager” could feel their eyes on him and felt the stress tightening his neck muscles, his chest, and his headache was roaring… He completed a 5 year old girl’s Rx order hurriedly, called her name, handed it to the technician, and her parents paid for it at the ultra slow register and left… The “manager” and his staff still had tons of work to complete because they were so shorthanded from his following of the understaffing requirements… The understaffed employees worked until closing, locked up the pharmacy, and went home to sleep to prepare for the next day… Of course, all the employees were so stressed out and wound up, they did not sleep well at all… The next morning began even more hectic than the previous day… The phone rang and the “manager” picked up the call… An emergency room Dr. was on the line and wanted to discuss the prescription that the 5 year old girl’s parents had picked up the night before… It had been filled for 10 times the recommended dosage, and the girl had died at the hospital during the night…
So shame on that corporation… Shame on them for putting their shareholders’ wants ahead of their patient’s safety… Shame on their Board Of Pharmacy for ignoring the pleas of the pharmacists who cared… And shame on that “manager” for following the demands of an uncaring corporation and for letting this unfortunate chain of events happen…
Filed under: General Problems
Unfortunately, this is not a parable. It is true; but fortunately, most often without deadly consequences. Not Deadly; but, sometimes with devastation. My Uncle, a Florida Circuit Judge, heard a case where RPh mislabled a small child’s lasix solution at 10 times the prescribed dose. Permanent deafness resulted. Tragedy.
I had a partner, mis-filled Premarin with
Premarin-MT. Post-menopausal patient began having vaginal bleeding after years of no menses.
First thing suspected was Cancer. Patient in hospital for several days undergoing testing. A Pharmacy student on rotation took a drug history and discovered error. Tragedy.
Is death a possibility? Absolutely! Is this parable a reflection of reality? Absolutely! Big chain Pharmacies push staff to breaking limits daily for the sake of a dollar. Reducing monetary budget to please the share holders and calculating that an occasional TRAGEDY is financially acceptable as the risk of litigation is less than benefit of reduced payroll expense.
There is not a Pharmacist alive that hasn’t made a mis-fill. Majority are discovered before error is bagged and ever reaching a patient. Those that do go through are usually a counting error. Then some are same drug-wrong mgs, same drug-wrong frequency, same drug-wrong use such as left eye/right eye or optic/ophthalmic mix up. All errors but with little consequence and no major or permanent injuries. Then there are the examples above with TRAGIC results.
I’ve been very lucky in my 32 years that no tragedies have occurred. There is nothing more worrisome than to see a patient returning with the bag of medications they left your store with awhile ago. The sense of dread that washes over you as they approach is indescribable. It’s something a RPh never wants to have happen.
If you, a Pharmacist, are still practicing…. slow down… don’t let corporate metrics drive you to tragedy… you took an oath to do no harm. I have been told “if you can’t get it done we will find someone who can”. My thought… go ahead Mr. Asshole District Manager; but, I will never have to live this parable.