We all do it. Our companies force us to. The old people cost too much and have too much vacation. The new grads cost to too much to train. So keeping the pharmacist experience level between 3 to 8 years is perfect. I will even tell you how we fire the old people. When you have reached 8 years with us your name pops up on my screen. Then I get with the store manager and we write you up for everything you can think of until you quit, which saves us unemployment as is ideal or we fire you for too many violations. It is really tough at the well run pharmacies because the pharmacist always seem so confused, but my bonus is based on how fast you go.
So all you “good little corporate soldiers”… keep working off the clock.. keep running at a 110%… keep bending or breaking the rules.. keep trying to climb that corporate ladder… just watch out for those missing or broken rungs. Your bosses’ BONUS is based on how fast you go… appropriate/safe pt care is of of little concern to this non-medical front end boss.. You make a med error helping him get his bonus.. it is not his license – cause he doesn’t have one… will be put at risk or be called before the BOP nor will he be fined by the BOP or have any financial liability on any fine or legal financial settlement from resulting law suits for harm/damages from the med error that you made.. processing Rxs faster than what professional prudence would suggest is safe.. So new graduates are not smart enough and as you get pay raises and more benefits.. the closer you get to “the edge”.. and they have plans in place to prohibit you from getting unemployment.
Filed under: General Problems
Steve, you said the same thing that I have been saying for years. I am surprised…did not know you were a mind reader. 🙂 I have been telling my fellow pharmacists the same thing…telling them to slow down and do their job well. Older pharmacists have learned that the more you accomplish for a company this year only increases the companies expectation of you for the next year. And, no matter what, whether increase or decrease in sales, your bonus will likely be chipped away. Where I work, good customer service is becoming ever harder to achieve because of all the crap added by the company and the lack of help to do it all. The company added an extra step to the filling process, which requires an extra tech, but did not increase the amount of money we can spend for tech help. My motto is to do what you can within normal business hours, take care of what patients you can, and when it is time to go home, close the windows and go home. Do your best to not work over. The company does not give a damn about you and when you work over you are only giving them your time. And, for a lot of pharmacists and techs with children, the extra time they put in at work is time taking away from their family.
We were recently told to verify prescriptions on one screen and make phone calls on the other. I guess I am “old”. I like to actually read the prescription before I dispense it! Silly me. (And yes, I have been written up for not meeting the “time to fill” metrics.)
But, Michael DeAngelo has proclaimed over and over CVS would never time their pharmacist. Safety is of upmost importance. According to him the metric is just there so they can gauge how they can improve things. So, why are pharmacist being written up for failure to meet time to fill metrics? Obviously reality versus media is two different stories in CVS’s world.
Caring
Well when you have the TX BOP president Gay Dodson on camera denying chain pharmacies at least in her state use metrics on pharmacists what do you expect CVS to say….with that kind of outright denial from a state board, they can continue to promote their fantasy world to the public. Too bad the reporter didnt challenge her on the air to walk behind and see what’s behind the counter. It’s no wonder pharmacists as a profession have begun to slip in the most trusted profession poll.
I think this should be sent out to some investigative reporter