Under staffing issues have been at a ever increasing problem for several years… with the COVID-19 pandemic… many chain pharmacies – particularly the two BIG BOYS in the country… have resisted adding Rx dept staff… while adding services of COVID-19 testing, shots and then came the flu vaccinations starting in Aug. and probably peaking in Oct-Nov… staffing issues and work environment has apparently came to a HARD BOIL… and Rx dept staff are apparently quitting in large numbers..
For years, many of us “old timers/legacy pharmacists” have been telling the younger Pharmacists that they need to stand up for every increasing bad/dangerous work environments. The chains budget $$$ to settle mis-filled Rxs and as long as the profit of under staffing is greater than the cost of settling the mis-fills things will continue to deteriorate… Most would reply that the “pts count on me, I can just abandon them” and legacy pharmacist would tell them.. they come because of the company’s name on the front of the building.
What we are now seeing on airplanes as passengers act up and get out of hand… mostly because they are pretty liquored up… From what I have been hearing from the “pharmacy front lines”… some sick pts – who are not feeling very well – are becoming very belligerent, and demanding and have been do so for some time. As more and more chains are using pharmacists from a “floater pool” … these staff pharmacists of these chains are starting to realize that the pts are not coming to a particular store because of them.
there has been some reports from some of the major chains, by their staff pharmacists that they have 10 days worth of prescriptions “stacked up in the computer ques” and District Managers/Supervisor telling them to just FOCUS ON THE Rx WAITERS !
I wonder what those Pharmacists think today about all those pts coming to their store…. because of them.
Filed under: General Problems
In my area, WG and CVS, other big box chains have hired nurses to take care of cv testing, all vaxxes. I have nurse friends who retired and are working at box pharmacies giving vaxxes and cv tests. Here, we have enough other choices and centers to receive cv vaxxes, cv tests and boosters without ppl needing to go to a pharmacy.Such places are even in strip malls and are walk in.
It’s sad that pharmacists are now being abused by patrons. Nurses, docs, med students,, residents have dealt with this–for decades. Only need to ask anyone who has ever worked in any hospital, esp ER’s. We’ve all been spat upon, had items thrown at us, had drunks to deal with, you name it…been verbally abused, been hit, bitten, you name it.
I think pharmacy customers are pretty fed up hearing their pmcy is ” out of stock,” ” cannot fill whole script now” due to inadequate stock, ” “come back later to pick up your med,” pt.’s dealing with preauths of needed meds, having high tiered copayments for scripts, experiencing long wait times for refills and first fills due to staffing shortages. At drive thru pharmacies, there is often 1 pharmacist and 1tech abd they’re supposed to man the phones, wait on counter customers, manage drive thru customer service.
Should anyone be surprised at the error rates in health care when the staff to patient ratio is terrible? With the glut of pharmacists, the problem isn’t about an inadequate number of skilled ppl in the profession but about unsafe working conditions.
I can remember 40 yrs ago when it was commonplace in any metro hospital for there to be only 1 RN on then all 3 shifts in a span of 24 hrs–and maybe 2 aides caring for a floor with 40 pts. which might include 1/2 doz fresh post op’s. Not on my watch nor license… It was the perfect incentive to return to school. At the time, the prob was not about hospitals not hiring to keep $$$$, but rather about a lack of nurses! Unlike pharmacists at that time, nurses with 4 yr degrees earned paltry wages. 8 hr work shifts commonly turned into 10 hrs., no time to go to the rest room, let alone eat…and no extra pay for OT because we were salaried.
Bottom line: No one wants to work in pt care when staffing shortages prevail regardless of reason. At a pmcy in VA, a young woman in my hometown went to a big box pmcy recently and received a cv jab from a pharmacist. She was injected with an incorrect, high dose. Last I read, she was not doing well with major side effects. Should we be surprised
significant errors are being made administering jabs, filling scripts when working conditions are unacceptable? I think not. Never mind the push and pressure to fill, fill, fill voluminous numbers of scripts under such conditions…
It can get worse and has … this happened early this year at a CVS store in central Indiana https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/cvs-pharmacist-dies-on-the-job-from-cardiac-mi-forced-to-wait-for-relief-pharmacist-to-show-up/
Here the WGs must CLOSE between 12:30 and One for lunch. Which of course is about the time I can get out of my sick bed and have a short window to go out of the house to get medicine before I am in too much pain again. I cant remember how many times I have pulled up, unaware of the time, to find the pharmacy closed. This never used to happen. I think the hours closed has changed a few times.
That is a shame.. most chain pharmacists get to work a 12 hr day… that they get a SINGLE 30 MINUTE uninterrupted MEAL BREAK… and most chains will not allow any food/drink in the Rx dept
Since it didn’t happen until recently, this closing in the middle of the day, I am thinking this is also a result of under-staffing. They are very clearly always at the run over there. At about the same time new faces, techs and pharmacists, appeared and the ‘team’ I had been observing for many years is almost completely gone. Only one pharmacist and one tech remain of that long lived ‘team’. I never see the same tech twice anymore. I wasn’t complaining that they took a lunch. This closing for lunch is new. For the posts here, now I worry that maybe early, intermittent closing is next here too.
The Walgreens pmcy part near me opens at 9a, closes at 6p M-F.
There are NO Saturday nor Sunday hours. Fortunately, I haven’t dealt with any chain pharmacies in 40 years.
I guess the big boxes forget other ppl are at work by 9am during the week, have kids to pick up after their work and don’t have time to rush and pick up meds by 6pm during the week. I guess big box chains also forget that most working ppl play catch up doing tasks on weekends. No Sat and Sun pmcy hrs.? Move on.