Would you believe that from this RPh’s letter.. believes that the particular BOP in this state… seemingly has little interest in patient safety.. I don’t know which chain this RPH’s works for.. but… take a guess !
Today has been a interesting day.. Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) has requested a FEDERAL INVESTIGATION of WAGS
https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=5310
and Change to Win, a consumer and labor watchdog, filed the complaint with Florida’s Department of Health about HIPAA issues with WAGS
https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=5308
Is the USS PHARMACY WORLD just taking on some water or .. is the water coming over the gunwale and it is about ready to sink? Maybe it is more like the two world trade center towers.. several hours after being hit by those commercial airplanes.. the buildings lost so much of its integrity .. that they just collapsed under their own weight… and not everyone got out alive !
Hi,
I know that this email was asking for stories of pharmacy errors in work work conditions, long work hours with no breaks or meals, hour cuts with increasing script counts, unreasonable goals for one RPh, and having to work with too many techs but only one RPh, etc. Believe me I have more of those stories than I can remember or count and it’s only getting worse!
I put my own health at risk and to the back burner constantly and my customer service definitely goes to the toilet because I’m just overwhelmed and facing usually an already angry customers because NO ONE has had time to wait on them the way our corporation promises them. But they don’t understand this might be my second 14 day in a row with no breaks or meals-not that I get out of there after only the time I’m officially getting paid for because the work load is so high and I won’t get paid for the extra because I’m “salary,” or that everyone else in the pharmacy is just an uneducated/new/untrained tech whose also busy and in a bad mood from being overworked, and the problem they are upset about has happened X amount of times before and was supposed to be taken care of yesterday- except who knows because everyday your company just pops a totally different pharmacist in there and you have no idea why this person is angry- but you’re now the face personally responsible for all of their issues they’ve had here!
I will come home from work hypoglycemic, fatigued, aching, still in a state of chronic work stress I can’t just turn that off like a switch as soon as I go home, berated all day in deplorable/what people think is black-and-white illegal work conditions the customers are oblivious to, and unappreciated and taken advantage of by my unempathetic “number-pushing” boss who expects miracles and never gives positive recognition or reinforcement or even responds to me! Only to know I have to cram down my only meal of the day, I’m so lucky my boyfriend will have waiting for me at the end of those loooong days, only to be grumpy or whiney towards him anyway because everyday is hell on Earth and I have to bottle it all up with no outlet or time to walk away or have a moment to myself to recollect myself until I am home 16 hours after I left!
Try leaving? Try getting another job? Try standing up for myself and saying things to my employer of how alll of us feel? Yeah right! They know you can’t leave! None of the good pharmacies to work at are hiring and literally having waiting lists, even for those that have husbands or wives trying to get them hired there! The market is saturated, and stilly company over-hired new grads who we are reminded could easily replace us if we don’t keep keeping our head-down, not raising a fuss or spreading negativity about work conditions. I unfortunately have been too bold in the past and spoken out, in attempts to form comradely and help people realize we do not HAVE to work like this if we all stick together, only to find out that someone you may have trusted with your frustrations they also agree they share has gone and told everything negative to your boss in order to get on his good side, causing your boss to continue to float you with still no reason given except for that he found out you were not talking fondly of the company then hand you a crumpled up napkin to cry in as you wake-up and realize you’re STUCK at this pharmacy at least for a long-while more, and that the only way out is to no job, which could happen even more easily now because you are replaceable and on their bad side, and the conditions will continue to degrade and hours cut every few months because they know you have nowhere else to turn and have to do it if you want to keep a paycheck, which you need to pay off your loans, and you realize this is all your fault your on this situation for going to pharmacy school and not matching or being to picky in the residency process. Now you’re living hell on Earth and you realize they do own you and there is no way out besides debt and defaulted loans.
How do I get BOP to force even the most powerful corporations to give their pharmacists meal breaks, or any breaks for that matter? How do I get them to stop cutting hours every few months, and when will the hour cuts stop? How do I get them to stop putting their own employees and customers in harms way?
They turn the other way everytime I send in a mis-fill report on any RPh, or once on myself, always siting it’s at the end of an all-day busy shift where we are having to multi-task and exhausted and hungry with phones ringing and calls to make or we get in trouble. I point out the frequency and trends of mis-fills increasing during longer shifts and at busier stores to my supervisor all the time, like usual he doesn’t get back to me or doesn’t look into it. Our safety and patient safety is sincerely at the bottom of their list of priorities with profit, of course first, and manipulation of public/media opinion second.
How have you gotten organized, legislation, public awareness and change stated and accomplished in other states? How do I start? I feel like I’m always ignored, by everyone, they all look the other way. How do I get true change in this state? Do you know of groups/individuals already working on this issue in my state? I already know of one thing my company does not follow, which is a state board rule, of a 1:4 ratio of Rph:technician; it does not matter-my company knows the board won’t bother them about it. I am silenced. They are too powerful, and I have no way out, I’ve been looking for jobs for a long time- there is no way out right now.
I know my peers apparently can stand ideally by in fear of retaliation as they are treated like 18th century steel mill workers under Frick’s harsh rule, while the public assumes we do not get treated the way we do or in the conditions we’re in and have no understanding or the reality of the situation, but I cannot. I have been looking into how to start here since I first got licensed, but keep getting overwhelmed/exasperated and putting it off. I need help. I need advice. I need back up.
So sincerely,
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Please, please help me! Help this state and my peers!
Filed under: General Problems
@Misty… Thank you for stepping up to the plate!!!!
Paula
While reading this it was just like I had wrote it, except I did stand up for us and got fired for it. I’d like to talk, Facebook me!
Off the clock work is illegal in every state. Although we are told that OTC work is prohibited, we are still expected to accomplish 8 or more hour’s worth of tasks in 6 hours or less….
Be careful working off the clock….@CVS RPHs are written up for doing this!!!
Feel your pain. Please try not to make any more “waves” or unfortunately, retailation will occur masked with another “reason”. It really stinks, keep looking and be positive to their face and do it secretly. As easy as it sounds for me to say, please go take a few minutes to regroup and eat–even if it means taking scripts to a back counter to sit and check. It will make a huge difference in how you feel. Put yourself above those numbers for a few minutes a day.
All I can say is that you are not alone. Thanks for sharing. Get the word out about this site to your pharmacist friends.