Pharmacist Walkouts: How did we get here?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 3 жов 2023
- October is American Pharmacists Month, it could also be the month that pharmacists go on strike to protest poor working conditions and unsafe staffing. In this episode I dive into the history of the pharmacy profession, the rise of chain drugstores and PBMs, and the questions surrounding the possible walkouts in the near future.
I went a little crazy with the resources for this one so if you want any of the references, you can go here: www.happypharmlife.com/128 for the full show notes.
Sierra Richard, PharmD, BCPPS
Pharmacist Lifestyle Vlogger
I help new pharmacists beat burnout and live a happy life!
Subscribe so you never miss a video!
Business Email: sierrarichard@happypharmlife.com
Business Address:
2101 West Broadway
Suite 103, PMB 170
Columbia, MO 65203
#shewaited #pizzaisnotworking
I’ve worked days as a pharmacist with zero technicians and 30-40 vaccines. I’m a pharmacy veteran and I know my limits. I put up signs stating all vaccines are cancelled. I didn’t answer the phone. I filled each rx one at a time as the patient waited either at the drive thru or front. Know your limits. Refuse to be rushed. It’s not worth your licence.
Bless your heart my friend! I've been the only tech with my pharmacist on many occasions. I call those "a day of waiters' which is when we literally do rx's for the waiters and the ready fills get completely ignored.
I support my pharmacist as best I can. He runs the show and I manage the chaos.
That’s the best way to be honest & doing it right !
or your life. Ashleigh Anderson a 41 year old died working in a cvs pharmacy because she had chest pains and was told she cant leave.
Omg yes so unreal!
@@melicah2479 I just looked this up. That's not true. She was told to close and leave, but she chose not to. She chose to stay. She talked to her boss' assistant again and decided to go to the ER down the street, but she waited for her boyfriend to come pick her up. She collapsed 15 minutes later, and a nurse saw it happen and gave her CPR while waiting for paramedics. They couldn't bring her back.
Been a pharmacist for over 20 years and I ve never seen a happy pharmacist in my life
Dang, I wanted to get my pharmacist license, all these events are making me think otherwise.
@@ingridfitz5677 thank you for telling me, I don’t work well where I’m stepped on,not appreciated,not respected nor yelled at, especially if I’m not ever enough. Ive been a trucker for 12 years, I’ve been working in a hostile environment, I’m trying to find a peaceful workplace.
I so bad want to argue with you, but I don't think I can.
@@humbleevidenceaccepter7712im somewhere in the middle going to the bad deep end
Same. I narrowly dodged that profession.
Before I left CVS, there were times only _two people_ would run the whole store. The lone pharmacist with no techs answering 5 phone lines, running the rx register, giving shots, and inputting/adjudicating/filling/checking prescriptions, and the Store Manager running the front end registers, checking in vendors, stocking shelves and daily bookwork.
I have worked for many companies in my 40 year career. Started as a part time clerk and semi-retired as a Pharmacy Manager.
CVS is the only company I would call evil.
Believing this is okay in any workplace is horrible, but believing this is okay in a role where a mistake can be life threatening is mindblowing.
I quit working for cvs after pendemic they never appreciated me
I never cared for CVS. They always high on things .
Thank you for your breakdown! Pharmacy needs to unionize! Our Boards who are supposed to be our advocate are led by these major corporations who actively work against us in pursuit of their dividends. We are healthcare experts and yet are treated as if we are minimum wage workers. If you asked a doctor to run an entire floor by themselves with no breaks, less pay and fewer nurses the Medical board would be up in arms, so where is the Boards of Pharmacy? We have no real voice without collective bargaining in this current landscape. I hope major changes are coming our way soon.
I completely agree. We have needed our pharmacy organizations to do more than create statements to say the support safe staffing. We also need boards of pharmacy to conduct investigations on pharmacies that report unsafe staffing and hold these pharmacies accountable for making changes.
Get lost
Except we as doctors are also treated this way. I 100% support this walkout. You go pharmacists!
CVS does have unions. They don’t really help. If they do at all it’s not enough or not changing the core issues
Any room for a former tech in your union?!
The biggest issue for techs aside from pay is the lack of career opportunities. There is rarely anything beyond being lead tech. There are so many things that techs CAN do if given the resources. And this has implications for pharmacists because it means they can better help patients and handle the clinical side of things that we techs can't.
I've actually worked on this issue. I was on the ASHP Pharmacy Tech Career Development Advisory Board for 2 years, one of those as chair. But we never really made a lot of progress because we couldn't really focus on things we wanted to.
I am a CPhT with 15 years experience....headed to Pharmacy School soon, and yes I know what I am getting myself into. Thank you for posting this. I work clinical currently as a tech, and I see the stress retail is under, as well as pretty much all pharmacy, regardless of setting. Better wages are needed for all pharmacy techs - we are crucial to the pharmacy team. The 'metrics' and extra tasks added to the pharmacy personnel workload is absolutely crazy. They should be working their craft - not trying to sell a credit card......pharmacy is a health service, and should be treated as such. If walk-outs begin to happen due to horrid working conditions - corporate did it all to themselves. Pharmacies should only be run by Pharmacy trained staff.....including ownership IMO. Healthcare is getting really stressed right now, and it is going to take some serious events to occur to make changes. Pharmacy is a vital service. If we close down shop, it is going to be seen, very quickly. I hope your video is seen by more people. Again, thank you for posting.
Thank you for sharing this. I agree with everything you said. Technicians are crucial for a safe and effective pharmacy. They should be compensated as such. I wish you the best in pharmacy school. Having so much experience as a pharmacy tech will help tremendously!
good luck, but studying pharmacy needs much effort and focusing, loll.
I hate that we have to justify the choice to become a pharmacist
@@prettypuff1 Same here. The fact that I even have to mention 'i know what I am getting myself into', is not something I wish to even have to say. However, it is. I am not going into pharmacy for the money (entirely). To put a roof over my head, sure. I actually enjoy the pharmacy profession very much, regardless of how stressful it is - I have been a tech for over 15 years. However, the conditions pharmacy staff are under right now, especially in retail, is absolutely ridiculous and should not even be a thing. The pharmacy profession is no different than a doctor's office. It is a very important field. Without us, no one gets their medication. A physician cannot run a pharmacy - only a pharmacist can, by law. As it should be. With that, I hope the possible walkout gets the results that are needed, and change happens nationally. Not just at specific store locations.
@@haitham8842 well of course. Pharmacy is not for everyone. Either you like it, or you don't. It's alot of hard work, and even more so with all this stuff that is happening.
As a pharmacist i can say that my store is open 15 hrs a day, if i work from 2 pm to 11 pm i get no break because the only lunch is from 1:30 to 2 pm, that should be ilegal.
That's awful. I agree it should be illegal. I worked 9pm-8am night shift with no breaks, 7 on-7 off for 2 years, and it ruined me. 😔
Same. We can “fit our break in when it’s slow” our DM reassures us……… yeah right-- except we can’t leave the pharmacy, and it’s completely unrealistic to think there will EVER be 30 minutes when the pharmacist isn’t needed for some damn thing or another.
Thank you for shedding light on this problem. Every time flu season rolls around I tell myself, "We'll get through it". But each year seems to be getting worse and worse. All that schooling and training just to be treated this way. I think it is high time pharmacists and technicians made these companies realize our worth!
It's crazy to see some pharmacies cutting staff this time of year when it is well known it's the busiest time of year. 🙄
Flu metrics are increased every year !!
@@HappyPharmLifeum, maybe you need to sell more flu shots. /sarcasm
I’m a nurse and NURSES ❤ OUR PHARMACY STAFF. We stand with you guys!!!! Do what y’all have to do to get the respect y’all honestly deserve!!! I’ve worked in the hospital and in the community and I’ve seen stressed out pharmacy staff (in my opinion, more so pharmacists whose license is on the line for all this madness) in both settings. Y’all are irreplaceable, do what you have to do!
Thank you for this! We appreciate nurses like you! 😊
you know anyone who got there licenses revoked?@@HappyPharmLife
As a tech I am envious of nurses because they have so many more educational and career opportunities than we techs do. Maybe one day we will be as well respected as nurses. And I've known some AMAZING nurses, you are appreciated!
I’m taking my CVS pharmacy staff cookies. I definitely have not appreciated all their hard work. Will be a more patient customer
As a CPhT would worked retail for 5 years, the pandemic broke me. I had to completely wash my hands of retail pharmacy for my own sanity and will never go back to retail pharmacy.
The pandemic brought all the issues within the profession to light. Thank you for the patient care you provided in your time as a CPhT! I don't think anyone can blame you for leaving retail!
Pharamcist profession is a dying profession.
This video should be required viewing for all pharmacy customers.
Amazing work on this video. Very informative and thorough. Retail pharmacist here and can relate to a lot of this. I also have multiple friends in hospital who also state working conditions are becoming horrific and declining rapidly.
A bit dark but I saw a quote that hits the nail on the head when it comes to the American health care system- “greed is greed, and those at the top have acquired a taste they both love and refuse to share. Until the arrogance and avarice of the wealthy becomes stigmatized in our culture, they will continue to behave like gluttonous pigs ignoring the plight of their fellow American as they wallow in the mud”.
Been a technician for CVS for 5 years now. I joined as soon as I turned 18. It was a good upgrade from fast food, but I'm not planning on sticking around all next year. Once I get my much needed new car next year, I'm job searching.
Perfect summary! I appreciate you bringing up topics that deeply affects us 😢
In my opinion, if I don't talk about the big things, I'm not using this platform correctly. I hope this video reaches more people so they can learn about what is actually happening behind the counter.
Excellent summary of recent pharmacy related health care and working conditions. As a 71 y/o semi-retired physician with a background in pharmacy (WSU 1976) and nuclear pharmacy (USC 1978) I worked in clinical, nuclear, and hospital pharmacy in the 1970's and 1980's before medical school. The transition from independent pharmacies to chains and corporate control has changed the face of both pharmacy and medicine for the worse. The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr documents the evolution of health care. As practitioners who are watching out for the health of our patients and our own health we need to join together to promote positive change. Glad to see our professional leaders like Dr. Richard are carrying the torch. GJBrownDO 11/7/2023 07:42 Eastern
I will have to add this to my reading list!
Yay for every hard working, caring tech and pharmacist out there! You are so appreciated.
Thank you!! 🥰
Thank you for the content and thoughtful insight. I’m a 30 year veteran and you’ve nailed it.
Omg I have been a pharmacy technician for 18 years. Hated that I had to leave my pharmacy for all of the reasons you covered in your video. But there was no ways for me to care for myself or my family.
I am so happy I came across your video. You so eloquently laid it out everything
I want to ask how can I be a support to the better conditions for pharmacy workers movement
Every time I am at Walgreens, I get nervous. They are so busy with limited staff. They do everything from filling prescriptions to giving injections.
Hospital pharmacist here: About 3 years ago, most of our pharmacy technicians walked out because they were making around $15/hour…working evenings, holidays & only 2 weeks vacation for 1st five years. Target was paying the same amount and no evening/holiday hours…pharmacy technician turnover is unbelievable. Oh, they would hand out “wow” awards ( gee, thanks) or give them a birthday cake ..Hospital honchos were out of touch. I am about to retire. So happy that I made it to 65yrs
This video was great. Good summary. - Fred (Los Angeles pharmacist)
Thank you.
I am lucky that I made it to 65 and Medicare. Pharmacy is the most over rated job(it's not a profession) I compare my career as a pharmacist to someone in prison for 45 years and finally getting a presidential pardon when I could get on Medicare and retire.
You must have been a retail pharmacist. I'm sorry.
My boss at CVS when I was an intern developed pyelonephritis because he couldn’t take a bathroom break through his 12 hour shift 😑 this metric based numbers system has gone way too far. Retail workers deserve and need to share these billion dollars profits that top level execs and shareholders make. Better staffing or people will continue to leave retail
That is awful about your boss. Unfortunately, I've heard other stories like this. If corporations keep this up, pharmacy doors will start to close, and patient access will be reduced. 😔
Exces and Shareholders are fine with Pharmacists since, A.I. will replace Pharmacists.
Jesus, that's awful. I'd just pee my pants.
Former CPhT here I loved the job was planning on going to pharmacy school but seeing how much the Pharmacists are over worked on top of covid starting I left for more pay and less stress as a 9-1-1 dispatcher which is crazy that I had less stress dealing with life or death calls than all the stuff that companies expect out of pharmacy
That's INSANE. As a former tech I understand how stressful it can get but I figured that was, you know, normal!
thank you for speaking up!
Thank you for your insightful video! In my experience in healthcare administration, I find it jarring how BIG business has yet to comprehend clinician burnout.
Employees grievances are often minimized. The answer to employee retention is not to sweeten the pot with bonuses💰, as alluring as that may be, but to re-define roles.
Retail pharmacists have multiple roles and are STILL expected to consult consumers and then ring out customers non-pharm items. 🤯 They need to redistribute tasks, create new roles, hire more pharm techs, and boost the techs pay for better quality staff. Every pharmacy should be managed based on the needs of their customers and community; whereas, the local managers should be able to help set metrics and realistic set expectations.
Let’s hope these walkouts and the threat of unionization result in BIG change.
This is a great summary of changes that need to be made.
They comprehend clinician burnout. They just don't care. It doesn't make since for them to pay more and hire more staff that cuts into Profits.
I’ve been working as a Cpht for like 3 years going on 4 and it’s insane! I’ve been working 10-12 hour shifts just trying to help my team catch up. And they still tell us we have to make sure we reach promise and they have the audacity to be like you guys need to lower your phone hold time like whattt! How about they come and fill 1k scripts a day at our 24 hour store
Wow! That's crazy! I'm sorry you have had to go through that. 😔
Wow. Try being a public school teacher working 60 to 90 hours a week for 50,000.
@@drjones-sk6cq and I would never i make the same without college :-)
@@drjones-sk6cqI've done both, pharmacy is more difficult (coming from a license pharmacist and licensed secondary educator)
Man I’m really reconsidering being a pharmacist
I’m a pharmacist from Ukraine and have been 8 years in USA.
That’s crazy how low salaries for pharm tech and how stressful job is here . Knowing these facts I’m thinking to switch a career here.
We're glad to have you, Svetlana!
As a former tech (actually my license is valid for two more days) I appreciate your kind words. I LOVED working as a pharmacy tech and I miss it. But I don't miss the hours, the low pay, and the idea that as a tech, I have no transferable skills. It took me four years of nearly nonstop job applications to get a higher paying job, because the impression is there that "pharmacy techs just count pills all day." I'd hate to break it, but in my last job (with investigational oncology drugs) o RARELY counted pills. I lucked out and the manager at my new job saw potential in me that others didn't--I am now THRIVING in a regulatory affairs role at a medical school.
Just started working meat/produce at a walmart & thought it a good idea to get certified as a pharm tech... I think I will stay where I am.
I am a multi state lic. Pharmacist.20 yrs experience ,I have worked clinical, retail, corporate. I was a director. I can not in good conscience tell a person to work retail. Most importantly you can't trust the accuracy of a prescription from a chain any longer. A generation of pharmacistist have been wiped out. The level of work increases without proper staff support.
As a ED Pharmacist who floats the better W store, I am fortunate to not have experienced most of this. I feel it's mainly at the other two, including CVS. I definitely feel for my colleagues at those stores during this trying time.
Certain corporate pharmacies are worse than others. I'm glad you haven't experienced most of this. It breaks my heart that anyone has to go through this treatment.
Wats the better W store if you don’t mind me asking
I feel he is referring to Walmart.
Why even work community pharmacy if you are in the ED? Makes zero sense.
Excellent points, especially about obtaining separate insurances. Even as a nurse and paramedic I always carried my own independent malpractice liability insurances. The corporation that you work for will protect their own business interests in first. What may be a devastating loss for their employees barely makes a ding in their long term profits.
I am grateful I had mentors who taught me this before I started practicing on my own. You have to protect yourself nowadays
It's insane! It's a wonder this hasn't happened sooner!
I agree. These issues have been building up for years.
Great video, love how you brought in the PBM to show how they have parasitized retail pharmacy.
PBMs are a very important part of this conversation and how we got here, yet it isn't brought to people's attention. I wanted to change that!
Very good video 👍🏼 wish I could say more
I live in Belgium (am from the US and lived there for 35 years before moving). All prescriptions here come boxed or in a bottle already-no counting out pills-with the rare exception of something that has to be compounded. Doctors don't call things into the pharmacy, and all prescriptions go directly onto your government number-accessed through your national EID card, so you need to present your card to access the prescriptions. Everyone waits in line for their scripts. And pharmacies are usually closed for an hour at lunch time so all pharmacy workers get a break (and pharmacies are only open until 6pm. After that you have to go to whatever pharmacy is on "watch" for the evening). It's a much more sane system that doesn't burn out workers.
Wow! Thank you for sharing this.
Agreed. Counting pills from large bottles! How stupid is that?! Why would we touch the pills from the first place. It should go directly from manufacturers blister packs to consumers.
Nice vid keep it up!
CVS cut staffing hours right before the fall. Unbelievable.
Dude, it's not just pharmacists who are done - everyone is done. Everyone who's not on the very top gets paid like shit and treated like shit.
We all should walk out until things get better for employees.
This is true but pharmacists and pharmacy staff do take unreasonable amounts of abuse
Lol, even people at the top are done because they think they don't get paid enough.
You speak my language, Walgreens RX tech here
It's about the corporatist profit model. And this awful inhumane model is in every single sector, not just pharma/medical.
I support your walkout, the owners need to stop getting away with literal murder.
I wish the small stores would come back.
i was a pharmacist through 2018. I can tell you it was hell on earth before covid. The pressure on us pharmacists to give vaccines was insane relentless unimaginable. Flu vax season started every year on July 1st and ended on June 30th. And this was before covid. I know we made very little profit on those vaccines, so why?
Anything to keep people sick and make some Shekels.
Profit from vaccines mostly went to support bonus programs for upper management hence all the pressure to give vaccines and do off site clinics on your own time with no additional pay. Very little profit went to the bottom line.
I feel for you, our healthcare has changed hands into the evil.
Bottom line, don't become a pharmacist and get out as soon ss you can if you're young enough or rich enough to do so. Don't waste you time, jeopardize your health, or lose your mind doing this. If you want to help people, then go into medicine or dentistry where at least you have some sort of ownership and are recognized as a real doctor or dentist instead of a druggist or a professional fast food worker.
I am going to take my NAPLX on Tuesday! im excited and freaking out at the same time lol
Why? How much research have you done on this profession.
Don't do it
@@user-lu6yg3vk9zHe's already graduated. The NAPLX is the board exam, smart guy. You want him to walk away and throw all that money and time away?
I would never go to Pharmacy school with the way the chains treat workers.
What did u do instead
I am a cannabis pharmacist however, I would have been a naturopath instead.@@MM71017
Why do you think community pharmacy is the only path? It isn't.
@@elitetrader5468 I know that but other jobs are not in abundance.I am not in community now and will never go back.
I've had nothing but headaches dealing with Hy-Vee. EVERY single time.
The fact that giving vaccines is a metric is absolutely insane… it also solidifies my intuition that the pharmacist were quite pushy for various vaccines I didn’t need or want. Retail pharmacy seems evil along with the rest of corporate America… big Fortune 500 companies all evil. So much work and constant added responsibilities in all fields instead of just properly staffing. I’m in insurance and I feel your pain, the work nvr stops and it’s almost thankless.
I recommend finding an independently owned pharmacy if you can! I worked in one before pharmacy school, and we didn't deal with any of these metrics that big chain stores push. The pharmacists took care of patients.
Ty
Have to wonder why anyone would get their prescriptions filled at CVS… with their intentional short-staffing, safety is obviously not management’s top priority. 😬
Some jobs only offer medical insurance that requires prescriptions be filled at CVS.😢
I hope APha & states BOP can do more to help
I agree!
You all continue to ignore the pharmacy technicians who are the backbone of pharmacy. The treatment of the technicians is just as bad if not worse in MOST pharmacies.
Did you watch the full video? In this video (and in many other pieces of content I create), I advocated for better technican pay and discussed the technican shortage. I got my start as a technican and know what goes into the job because I've done it myself. Most pharmacists I know also advocate for better technican pay and improved work environments. They aren't being ignored by those who work with them, but those who can make changes definitely are
This literally sounds like retail! Retail unfortunately is the world I have been in for over 15 yrs. And this literally screams the same behaviors/metrics they expect from us. And the pizza parties keep coming!
The only way to control it is for the state to lower the technician to pharmacist ratio. If the state lowers it to let’s say 3 techs for every pharmacist that means the company will be forced to add a second pharmacist or overlap until the need a fourth technician. I seen it happened before the state of Florida changed the ratio to 6 technicians per every pharmacist. That where the second pharmacist was cut. Makes sense yet ?
This would make more sense if every state had a pharmacist to tech ratio, but many of them don't. The ones that do are mostly 1:3.
UNION
I'm very curious to see what arises from this. This is the most union-related talk I've heard in my 12 year pharmacy career.
That's communism and it fosters laziness and corruption. Go find another better job, that's the answer.
And if so how does one find that out?
The problem is our board of pharmacy failed economics class. They failed to understand the basic rule of supply and demand. They allowed many pharmacy schools to open at an alarming rate affecting the market with influx of lots of incompetent students who have no business being in the field. The outcome is abuse by the companies that hire us and threaten us with firing if we don’t comply, because it’s Easier to replace us than technicians. Furthermore, now in order for schools to fill the seats, the prerequisite requirement for attending such programs have dropped tremendously. They waived the PCAT, the dropped GPA requirements to 3.0 and even less. Also, if you log in to your state boards and check who is occupying the seats, you will realize have of the crowd do not qualify for the job nor they have proper credential to be leaders. The healthcare system in general is crumbling. The quality of students who are becoming doctors and pharmacist are subpar to the graduating class from a decade ago. What needs to be done, is first we need to clean house starting with our board of pharmacy and hire people with the best qualifications to lead us. The closure of the schools who are for profit and their Naplex passing rate is below 90%.
Your wages depend on how u place in your marathon
If you're considering school to become a pharmacist, Id like to suggest you look into functional medicine instead. Your patients will appreciate it and actually get better. You dont have to know about insurance since its all cash. And the schooling is less than a year after you get your pharm D. A lot of people are switching to functional medicine for chronic health issues and they actually recover.
Nice a Pivot
Functional medicine is very valid, and amazing. It is mind boggling that most doctors in America don't treat disease itself, but the symptoms. I went to a functional medicine practitioner and the difference was night and day. Interestingly the AMA allows very few if any functional medicine topics or approaches in medical school curricula.
Ok I change my mind
❤
It seems like patients should somehow join pharmacists in the protests. As a patient, I can't remember ever blaming the pharmacist or even some incredibly rude staff. It's just clear that everyone is overloaded and trying to do the best they can under the circumstances. Something's gotta give and it doesn't seem like pharmacists have enough power to make the needed changes on their own. What seems to be needed is for one large pharmacy chain to forgo seeking higher profits for one year and create a model of a pharmacy the meets the needs of staff and customers. They could then advertise what they're doing and attract more customers. I would think the other chains would then follow suit. The chain that started the change could then proclaim in advertising that they started the trend to provide a better environment for workers, patients, and ultimately share holders. When things are falling apart, like they are, there is an opportunity to grab market share away from the most profitable chains. This happens in other types of businesses. There is no reason it can't happen here. You move some levers and suddenly things start falling into place.
Agreed. Imagine the number of complaints they write on their surveys links on daily basis. Like 5 years old wining about every single issue. Like OMG I waited 5 minutes for my meds or the Pharmacist didn’t acknowledge me.
And yes i don't practice any longer.
What area of Pharmacy do you work?
Is there a pharmacy Union for all who work in the pharmacy including technician?
There isn't a pharmacy union, and that is part of the problem. There has been work to create one. They are looking for 100,000 supporters to get the union off the ground: pharmacyguild.org/
Anybody else get an ad for getting your flu shot at QFC pharmacy? Lol
My pharmacist and I almost gave someone the wrong vaccine because of the working conditions
You are far from alone. So many medication errors and near misses happen due to lack of staffing which leads to increased distractions, multitasking, etc. It's so scary!
Typical corporate behavior. Squeeze the most amount of work out of the least amount of the lowest paid people
Imagine not being able to take a lunch break !! Or even have time to seat down Is pure slavery and abuse
@Sierra, am an Egyptian pharmacist and very interested in contacting you to discuss somethings, so if you wouldn't mind, please lemme know. Thanks.
You can email me at sierrarichard@happypharmlife.com
I have sent you an email, but do you have telegram too?
Hi Haitham, I know MENA-American clinicians and pharmacists. They are US born, raised and currently based Stateside. Is there anymore information you should need, please let me know. Perhaps I can ask them to connect with you…
me gusta
Is it bad that I still like community/retail pharmacy?? I am still considering pharmacy school despite everything. I have had many jobs, I think it's a great way to serve the community. I just hate how they pay cphts pennies. I think I might try walmart or fry's to be a tech at. Already have tried CVS and WAGs. My true dream job as a pharmacist though is a compounding pharmacist or hospital.
It's not bad. There are still pharmacies that safely staff their pharmacy. I know pharmacists who are still able to have meaningful conversations with patients. I wish it was that way in all pharmacies. I loved working in an independent pharmacy when I was a tech, which is why I became a pharmacist. I do agree that tech pay needs to go up, not just in community, but all settings.
Made $136,000 in 2014 which is $168,000 per inflation calculator in 2024. Now pharmacist make $120,000 or less in today's dollar. Compensation today is not commensurate with education, legal and business responsibility, liability and stress. Age discrimination is rampant too. Once you reach mid 50's it becomes impossible to meet your metrics and if you do, corporate will do things like lower your tech hours again or send your most reliable and productive tech to another store. Also, the jealous store manager will be told to watch you like a hawk for anything they can stab you in the back with. How many pharmacists in their mid 50's do you see working in chains today?
Short staffing does not really help the company's bottom line all that much. The dollars saved go to the over the top bonus programs of upper management above the district level. Upper management has no loyalty to employees or the company itself. Their loyalty is to their bonus program and will get rid of anyone who interferes with it. Pharmacy district managers who dare to advocate for more staffing are yelled at and told they are not with the program. and are fired or demoted. Upper management will get out the bonus checkbook for the slightest reason. One they have run the company in the ground, they resign with their golden parachute leaving the company in shambles. Think Rite Aid.
Has this Pharmd ever worked in a 1,000 rx a day pharmacy???
I worked in ~700/day pharmacy as a tech. Beginning of the month easily exceeded that. I also spent a rotation in pharmacy school at a 1000+ a day pharmacy. I worked as the only pharmacist on night shift in a women's and children's hospital where I verified 500-900 order per night at my own hospital and an additional 200-300 for another hospital while also completing drug levels, attending emergencies such as code blues among other clinical and operational tasks.
Most pharmacies fill greater than 1000 prescriptions in a 24 hr day. Filling that many is outrageous considering that you still have to deal with insurance companies that are staffed by idiots who are not medical professionals who decide if you can fill a prescription. If you work in a hospital it is even worse as the politics is outrageous. If a mistake is made by a nurse or foreign medical student you are told to mind your own business and being singled out to make your life miserable will follow. It is about time pharmacist stand up to this treatment. Unlike nursing who protect their own, pharmacist need the strength to do the same.
Nursing is very selective in which own it protects. There are likely more who are thrown under the bus vs those who are protected and advocated for
Your gmail id??
Can you provide previous year question of naplex exam?
The exploitation of pharmacists is inevitable because the profits are too high. Pharmacies are about selling goods and medications to make money, not about craftsmanship and skills.Although dealing with thousands of different medications is challenging, it's essentially a labor-intensive industry. If pharmacists don't establish their independent, specialized pharmacies and let large corporations take control of the pharmacy landscape, this outcome is irreversible.
If you think this is the answer, look into PBMs a bit closer. See who owns them and how they reimburse different pharmacies. Independent pharmacies are being run out of business because they lose money filling prescriptions. Some pharmacies are doing a membership model and bypassing insurance, but not all communities have a population that can afford that.
Unions were created to protect the workers. Shortly after forming, crime and coruption were synonymous with unions. The need for power and money corupts so much!
For this reason, I’m not a big supportor of unions, but I do feel pharmacists and pharmacy techs should be unionized.
I have flu shots and other shots fone at my primary care doctor.
Pharmacies are overworked and underpaid.
I hope people finally get back to unions but as long as Republicans have political power it won't happen.
Both parties operate as one. There is no blue or red. Just the illusion that they created to divide, wake up. Your guberment wants you dead and broke. "Useful idiots" is what they call you themselves.... Not me.
Leve it to the cartel and the feds
Retail pharmacy will probably be automated almost entirely by AI in the near future.
The busy pharmacy I worked at used a script pro machine. It seemed to help. The RPH still has to check it so it helped the techs more than anything.
Probably not for a few reasons. It is a legal requirement that pharmacists be present to verify orders, so legislative changes are needed in every state since pharmacy laws are governed at the state level. Pharmacists also complete vaccinations and health screenings that require a person to administer. The technology we currently have to assist us (i.e. drug interaction checkers) aren't helpful with individual patient advice. I do believe AI will be integrated more in the future, and the role will change, but it would be a long road to an AI ran pharmacy.
Techs will be obsolete I believe.
Based on polls regarding people's comfort level with AI, I'd say they are likely not in the works right now. Those feelings will change over time as AI is integrated into more areas and more commonly used.
Greed.
Pharmacy techs are some of the rudest people I've ever met. I'm deaf, literally cannot hear, so I use a cochlear. I asked the tech to repeat herself twice, and she said in the most horrific way ever "REPEATING FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME" right in my ear. My implant physically hurt. I said you know you don't need to be a bitch to me, I'm deaf not stupid! And the pharmacy canceled all my prescriptions. Worth it. They're always huffing and puffing. I have to try many pharmacies for my diabetes injection. I have never met kind ones after the pandemic. Oddly enough CVS techs are usually nicer than these private pharmacies where the incident occurred. It's like they know they have the power to not be fired because they're so necessary.
Replace all these American pharmacist with international ones, that is what all the chains are doing, cheaper labot + lmmigrants will not complain about the work volume
I'm assuming you didn't watch the full video, or you would know that this does not solve the issue but continues to put patient safety at risk. The work volume has caused a rise in medication errors, which is harming patients (or worse). Pharmacists, no matter their country of origin, should never be put in work conditions that put patients' lives at risk.
That sounds like recipe for disaster. Catastrophic disaster.
What you don't understand is as long as the lawsuit payout from error is a small percentage of the profits then they are ok with high volume with risk of error.@@HappyPharmLife
I've met many non US pharmacy grads. They are about 30 years behind us in terms of knowledge and progressiveness. And I'm being generous.
Come on pharmacists, your boss did not treat ypu right, it doesn't mean that you have a license to kill.
Unsafe staffing in pharmacies=increased medication errors. It's that simple.
Big babies .. you should become nurses ..they work 10 times harder… 😢 please
lol....riiiiiight
As pharmacists, we work WITH nurses and often answer their questions to help them with their job. This isn't a "who works harder" issue, both work hard. Staffing levels for both nursing and pharmacy are patient safety issues, which is the main reason for walkouts. Also, nurses are striking all over the country because their work conditions are terrible, too.
Nurses do work hard but as a nurse the two groups of people I felt worked just as hard or even harder than me were pharmacists and respiratory therapisys
Boo hoo! Well compensated for putting pills in a bottle. $100,000 or more a year. It’s pharmaceutical blood money. Just like petroleum jobs.
I’m sorry to see that comment. As a pharmacist in hospitals, clinics, and community pharmacy for 30 years - there is so much more to what pharmacists and techs do to dispense correct meds safely. Please take the time to talk to a pharmacist and / or tech about what their work really entails! It’s far more than putting pills in a bottle!
The Doctor’s job is to figure out what is wrong with you and order a medication. The pharmacist’s job is to make sure the doctor doesn’t kill you with the wrong dose or the wrong medication. Next time you get sick, just remember that the last person, that you put all your trust into, is the pharmacist. If that person makes a mistake then you get hurt.
If you want to learn what a doctorate in pharmacy trains you to do, feel free to watch the other videos on this channel. (Here's a hint: we don't go to grad school to learn how to put pills in a bottle 🙄)
And what do you do for a living?
Betcha Dr Jones wouldn't last one day working in retail pharmacy. (S)he'd be on Zyprexa, Prozac, Tegretol and Trazodone - doubling the dose😂 -- by days end.
Unionize. I am a customer and 100% a walkout and hard bargaining.