We are often find ourselves discussing the lack of rest/meal breaks… long (14 hr) work days .. and being discouraged to take time to go to the restroom… BOP often state that they won’t interfere with/how with an employer’s means of doing their business… HOWEVER… many states have RPH/tech ratios that are imposed by the BOP’s. Isn’t this “interfering ” with the employer’s means of doing their business?
where do we draw the line as to which is and is not “interfering” with a permit holder’s business plan?
Indiana just went from a 1:4 ratio to a 1:6 ratio… just as Walgreen got permission to implement their “Pharmacist out front” in Indianapolis… I guess that the President of the BOP was a exec from Walgreen had nothing to do with getting this legislation passed and that 50% of the BOP members are chain execs..
Indiana was one of the first states that mandated CE for Pharmacists to renew their license in the early 70’s… and we now have a mandate that all techs must past one of two certification tests within one year of being hired… During their first year they are registered as a “tech in training”
What they did not consider is that under this new law… a Pharmacist could be forced to be responsible for SIX TECHS that have less than one year’s worth of experience… given the turn over in pharmacies… a Pharmacist could be responsible for SIX TECHS that COLLECTIVELY had less than one year’s experience.
What could even be worse.. is that the tech scheduler – usually the PIC… assign the more – or only – certified techs on his/her shift and assign the “techs in training” to other shifts !
If we are going to have mandatory RPH/tech ratios and mandatory tech certification .. why don’t we have mandatory balancing of staffing… No matter what the ratio… if a Rx dept has more than one tech on duty… then at lest 50% of the techs on duty.. MUST BE CERTIFIED !
How are we suppose to train techs and perform all the rest of our duties… we know that inexperienced techs … make more input mistakes… have more questions… cause more interruptions… each one of these can be the genesis of a medication errors.
Filed under: General Problems
I agree with you… but.. most/all BOP’s claim that they can’t impose on an employer’s work environment issues .. they claim that they don’t have the legal authority…. when it comes to mandatory meal/rest breaks and long work days.. because it interferes with an employer’s business plan..but .. they can/will “interfere” when it comes to RPH/tech ratios.. so these BOP’s are using lame excuses when they REFUSE to mandate other things that are “safety issues”
I think the BOP should be involved with the work environment. We need regulations to protect our profession. The retail giants have taken over and done whatever they wanted. We as pharmacists need to step up and take back our profession from the retail chains!