What Your Local Pharmacy Staff Wishes You Knew
I don't really know how to start this blog so I'm just going to pick a spot and keep on going. This blog post started going in my head when I heard the story of a patient taking a gun and shooting a pharmacist and a technician. I've seen articles and comments under the story about how it's an everyday occurrence in some pharmacies, and unfortunately, it's true.
I've been a CPhT for nine years. I got my start as a Pharmacy Tech Trainee at Walgreens back in the Hill Country. (I could make a whole other blog post about my experience working for Walgreens but I'll just be giving you the "Greatest Hits" in this entry.) From there I transferred to a Walgreens out here in West Texas when I moved in June of 2010. After moving, I took my PTCE and passed at the first go-around. I was a trainee for only less than a year and was certified by the end of 2010. I remember going in as a trainee on my first day and thinking "This is it... this is going to be the first professional job," and I started learning.
I was also getting baptized by fire, if you will, by working for Walgreens in areas that had the clientele which consisted of the rich and entitled*.
I plan on making a video about this at another time, but for now, please continue reading, but here are some things that your local pharmacy wishes you knew.
When I got my Trainee license, I was promised that for at least the two weeks of training that I would have my 40 hours to keep me at full time. After those two weeks, I was going to go down to maybe 32 hours but that was because of budget cuts. (Remember those words: "budget cuts" cause it's important)
Each week my hours were getting cut to the point that in order to keep my benefits I needed to work on the main floor to make my hours. Walgreens -- though I expressed my concerns of having bills of my own and needed hours and I would literally stand at the cash register -- didn't give me those hours even though my store manager at the time said he would give them to me.
This was not the first time my hours were cut by the way. Once I got out of Pharmacy in the Hill Country -- they said it was because I was only a trainee -- and back on the floor, it was time for me to move to a different town -- my current town -- and I started out in Photo/Cashier. By the time I got back into the Pharmacy at that Walgreens they only wanted me back there because it was about to be flu season. In the meantime, I studied and took my test, passed and thought "Well this is it, they can't kick me out now, I'm certified." I figured the worst they'd do was move me to another store or something.
Oh no...
"You were the last one certified so we have to take you out of Pharmacy." Not even three months later, they fired a technician and all of a sudden, I'm an asset to them. "We need you to go back into Pharmacy." At this point, I had two jobs. I was only able to keep my second job if I stayed working on the floor (due to store hours). I had this conversation with my store manager and she was fine with it. However, when it came to their needs (and not mine) I was supposed to just do what I was told. I could see how that would be relevant if I never spoke to the manager about my situation and why I needed to stay on the floor but that conversation "never happened" to her.
Once I left Walgreens it left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I was convinced I was never going back. I even let my license lapse -- I got it back no problem, but when I let it expire, I didn't even care.
So why am I spilling the tea on my Walgreens experience? I'm trying to let the general public understand how it works in a Pharmacy setting -- especially these big corporations who adopt the "less is more" attitude about everything -- including patient safety. It's hard to explain to some people but just know they are trying their best to get through the day and get their patients taken care of.
This is all coming from a place that luckily I am not really in anymore. I am in numerous Pharmacy Technician groups on Facebook and a lot of them work for "WAG" (Walgreens) or "The Three Lettered Chain" (CVS) and have voiced their concerns with getting their hours cut, yet are expected to keep up the same workload with fewer people... Yeah! That makes sense! (that last part was coated in heavy sarcasm)
Sometimes the pharmacy staff has rude people all day, then to add being short staffed -- due to budget cuts -- they're pretty likely to be on edge. Not all customers that come in are rude and threatening, but once we have encountered those who are, it does make us defensive. Anytime someone else is rude it just adds fuel to the fire.
Many patients complain and will say various things like:
"How come no one called me about XYZ?!"
If they barely have the staff to do intake/type, fill, cashier, and literally have maybe 4 people working at a high intake pharmacy, there simply isn't the staff to call every individual patient if something can't be filled for whatever reason. Personally, I made a list of people I needed to call about "X" but between the patients coming and going, phones constantly ringing etc... and also not being able to even go pee (ahem... Walgreens) calling someone just wasn't going to happen. Every now and then a patient I needed to call would call the pharmacy to check on their script and I could let them know at that point, or on a rare occasion, I could find a minute and call but there are hundreds of patients a day and sometimes dozens of patients need to be called about various things regarding their script. However, if the staff isn't there (ahem..Walgreens and CVS... and the head honchos want staff to do more with less) it's physically impossible.
"Well can't you call a patient while taking scripts or checking out patients at the window?"
I could... but, multitasking one patient on the phone with another patient at pick up or drop off is a recipe for disaster and if something slips it can either be a major HIPPA violation or even a case of a patient getting the wrong medication and who knows if it interacts with something they're currently taking. If these big companies would give the pharmacy their hours for the staff they need, I guarantee things would be a LOT better.
"Why didn't anyone let me know that my medication needs to be ordered? I get that every month, don't you know that?!"
It can be hard to keep every drug in stock at all times. Sometimes we have days where it seems like everyone is getting new scripts for Sprintec (a birth control) something that is normally well stocked with at LEAST 3 boxes (of 6 packs) on the shelf and they can be gone in a day -- especially if they range from 1 month to 3 month supply. Let's say we normally carry #5 100 count bottles of Benicar (I'm using this partially because it's on backorder and it's driving us all bananas) and we normally won't go below 2 bottles at the end of the day. Patient "A" comes in with a script for a 90 day supply -- there goes almost an entire bottle. Then Patients "B", "C", "D", and "E" come in. Two scripts for a 90 day and two for a 30 day but they're taking 2 a day instead of one... it's weird oddities like that that can impact what we have in stock at the end of that day.
These big corporate pharmacies (some, not all, H-E-B is a BOMB company to work for) in my opinion (and experience) don't really care about their employees or their patients. Patients also tend to think they are CUSTOMERS, some of which say the phrase "The customer is always right," when we try to tell them something regarding their prescription being too early or whatever the case may be. Well, you're not a customer in a pharmacy setting, you are a patient. Just like in the doctor's office, you are a patient. If something goes wrong, it's the pharmacy's fault and the pharmacist could potentially lose their license if mistakes keep happening that can easily be avoided by increasing the hours and pharmacy staff.
In my last job as a Pharmacy Technician, I worked for an independent. In my humble opinion, independent/locally owned pharmacies are THE way to go. The pharmacy I worked at genuinely cared about their employees, the pharmacists shielded us techs from patients who would get rude and threatening (which didn't happen often, but when it did, it was almost like a flashback to working for WAG), and were so flexible if we needed something -- doctors appointments, needing to pick up your kids, just random things. If you are thinking about becoming a Pharmacy Tech, PLEASE do your research on the establishment you are wanting to get involved with. If you can, go independent... your sanity will thank you.
*Not everyone that came to Walgreens was rich and entitled but considering I was raised to be patient with people, and not to get angry at people -- especially who work with the general public -- just trying to do their job, it took my "People are amazing!" attitude to "Wow... some people are real assholes," in about... oh three months.
I've been a CPhT for nine years. I got my start as a Pharmacy Tech Trainee at Walgreens back in the Hill Country. (I could make a whole other blog post about my experience working for Walgreens but I'll just be giving you the "Greatest Hits" in this entry.) From there I transferred to a Walgreens out here in West Texas when I moved in June of 2010. After moving, I took my PTCE and passed at the first go-around. I was a trainee for only less than a year and was certified by the end of 2010. I remember going in as a trainee on my first day and thinking "This is it... this is going to be the first professional job," and I started learning.
I was also getting baptized by fire, if you will, by working for Walgreens in areas that had the clientele which consisted of the rich and entitled*.
I plan on making a video about this at another time, but for now, please continue reading, but here are some things that your local pharmacy wishes you knew.
When I got my Trainee license, I was promised that for at least the two weeks of training that I would have my 40 hours to keep me at full time. After those two weeks, I was going to go down to maybe 32 hours but that was because of budget cuts. (Remember those words: "budget cuts" cause it's important)
Each week my hours were getting cut to the point that in order to keep my benefits I needed to work on the main floor to make my hours. Walgreens -- though I expressed my concerns of having bills of my own and needed hours and I would literally stand at the cash register -- didn't give me those hours even though my store manager at the time said he would give them to me.
This was not the first time my hours were cut by the way. Once I got out of Pharmacy in the Hill Country -- they said it was because I was only a trainee -- and back on the floor, it was time for me to move to a different town -- my current town -- and I started out in Photo/Cashier. By the time I got back into the Pharmacy at that Walgreens they only wanted me back there because it was about to be flu season. In the meantime, I studied and took my test, passed and thought "Well this is it, they can't kick me out now, I'm certified." I figured the worst they'd do was move me to another store or something.
Oh no...
"You were the last one certified so we have to take you out of Pharmacy." Not even three months later, they fired a technician and all of a sudden, I'm an asset to them. "We need you to go back into Pharmacy." At this point, I had two jobs. I was only able to keep my second job if I stayed working on the floor (due to store hours). I had this conversation with my store manager and she was fine with it. However, when it came to their needs (and not mine) I was supposed to just do what I was told. I could see how that would be relevant if I never spoke to the manager about my situation and why I needed to stay on the floor but that conversation "never happened" to her.
Once I left Walgreens it left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I was convinced I was never going back. I even let my license lapse -- I got it back no problem, but when I let it expire, I didn't even care.
So why am I spilling the tea on my Walgreens experience? I'm trying to let the general public understand how it works in a Pharmacy setting -- especially these big corporations who adopt the "less is more" attitude about everything -- including patient safety. It's hard to explain to some people but just know they are trying their best to get through the day and get their patients taken care of.
This is all coming from a place that luckily I am not really in anymore. I am in numerous Pharmacy Technician groups on Facebook and a lot of them work for "WAG" (Walgreens) or "The Three Lettered Chain" (CVS) and have voiced their concerns with getting their hours cut, yet are expected to keep up the same workload with fewer people... Yeah! That makes sense! (that last part was coated in heavy sarcasm)
Sometimes the pharmacy staff has rude people all day, then to add being short staffed -- due to budget cuts -- they're pretty likely to be on edge. Not all customers that come in are rude and threatening, but once we have encountered those who are, it does make us defensive. Anytime someone else is rude it just adds fuel to the fire.
(Storytime:)
I had a guy jump the counter and try to grab me because we wouldn't fill his oxycodone. He told me at drop off he takes more than prescribed sometimes. When Pharmacist looked at it, it was a good 7-10 days too early. I started to give him his script back (and I think pharmacist wrote on the back the last date filled and day supply but I'm not sure) and he demanded that I "fill his medication," I told him it was too early and we could fill it on "such and such date" or I could give him his script back -- and told him that another pharmacy might but fill it till that day either because of what our Pharmacist wrote, if he did, this happened all the time -- and his reaction to that information was to jump on the counter and swing at me, grazing my chest and name tag and almost grabbing my necklace. When I saw him move forward I stepped back but the area we store scripts was right behind me so I didn't have anywhere to really move at that moment. My Pharmacist -- who was a big guy -- jumped in between him and me and said "You need to leave... Right now!" He may have threatened to call the police but he left and told me to go take a break cause I was on the verge of crying cause I was scared."How come no one called me about XYZ?!"
If they barely have the staff to do intake/type, fill, cashier, and literally have maybe 4 people working at a high intake pharmacy, there simply isn't the staff to call every individual patient if something can't be filled for whatever reason. Personally, I made a list of people I needed to call about "X" but between the patients coming and going, phones constantly ringing etc... and also not being able to even go pee (ahem... Walgreens) calling someone just wasn't going to happen. Every now and then a patient I needed to call would call the pharmacy to check on their script and I could let them know at that point, or on a rare occasion, I could find a minute and call but there are hundreds of patients a day and sometimes dozens of patients need to be called about various things regarding their script. However, if the staff isn't there (ahem..Walgreens and CVS... and the head honchos want staff to do more with less) it's physically impossible.
"Well can't you call a patient while taking scripts or checking out patients at the window?"
I could... but, multitasking one patient on the phone with another patient at pick up or drop off is a recipe for disaster and if something slips it can either be a major HIPPA violation or even a case of a patient getting the wrong medication and who knows if it interacts with something they're currently taking. If these big companies would give the pharmacy their hours for the staff they need, I guarantee things would be a LOT better.
"Why didn't anyone let me know that my medication needs to be ordered? I get that every month, don't you know that?!"
It can be hard to keep every drug in stock at all times. Sometimes we have days where it seems like everyone is getting new scripts for Sprintec (a birth control) something that is normally well stocked with at LEAST 3 boxes (of 6 packs) on the shelf and they can be gone in a day -- especially if they range from 1 month to 3 month supply. Let's say we normally carry #5 100 count bottles of Benicar (I'm using this partially because it's on backorder and it's driving us all bananas) and we normally won't go below 2 bottles at the end of the day. Patient "A" comes in with a script for a 90 day supply -- there goes almost an entire bottle. Then Patients "B", "C", "D", and "E" come in. Two scripts for a 90 day and two for a 30 day but they're taking 2 a day instead of one... it's weird oddities like that that can impact what we have in stock at the end of that day.
These big corporate pharmacies (some, not all, H-E-B is a BOMB company to work for) in my opinion (and experience) don't really care about their employees or their patients. Patients also tend to think they are CUSTOMERS, some of which say the phrase "The customer is always right," when we try to tell them something regarding their prescription being too early or whatever the case may be. Well, you're not a customer in a pharmacy setting, you are a patient. Just like in the doctor's office, you are a patient. If something goes wrong, it's the pharmacy's fault and the pharmacist could potentially lose their license if mistakes keep happening that can easily be avoided by increasing the hours and pharmacy staff.
In my last job as a Pharmacy Technician, I worked for an independent. In my humble opinion, independent/locally owned pharmacies are THE way to go. The pharmacy I worked at genuinely cared about their employees, the pharmacists shielded us techs from patients who would get rude and threatening (which didn't happen often, but when it did, it was almost like a flashback to working for WAG), and were so flexible if we needed something -- doctors appointments, needing to pick up your kids, just random things. If you are thinking about becoming a Pharmacy Tech, PLEASE do your research on the establishment you are wanting to get involved with. If you can, go independent... your sanity will thank you.
*Not everyone that came to Walgreens was rich and entitled but considering I was raised to be patient with people, and not to get angry at people -- especially who work with the general public -- just trying to do their job, it took my "People are amazing!" attitude to "Wow... some people are real assholes," in about... oh three months.
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