Pharmacy whore

This issue has been weighing on my mind since I worked my butt off yesterday. I filled 221 scripts in 7 hours (although I had to stay an hour later to catch up) with 12 hours of tech help total (although I did keep the one tech an hour after close to help catch up), so 13 hours in truth. I did manage to help a few patients on the phone and in the store who had questions for me. In reality, though, I feel I didn't really do much professionally to help these patients manage their drug regimens, aside from the usual DUR on the computer. There was absolutely NO TIME to do it! Unless I wanted to stay 3 or 4 hours after close.

Then this morning I read JP's blog http://www.jimplagakis.com/?p=90
You know, I was just thinking about all this in regards to lack of pharmacy support help. Even if I wanted to counsel patients, do MTM, immunizations, or any number of other things to improve the quality of care that I provide to patients, I couldn't do it! Paying ME extra money won't get the job done, either. In fact, it would probably require support staff be cut even more.

I've been in pharmacy for 10 years now and I've noticed a drastic change in levels of staffing over the years. Every week the grocery chain pharmacy I work for (now only on-call) is cutting their tech hours, despite record sales, and exceeding budget sales volume. Why? $4 generics, drive thrus, razor thin margins.. To make any profit these chains have to squeeze every drop out of their employees, or so they think.

The pharmacist shortage, also, contributes to this. I am sure as the chains have to throw more $$ at pharmacist's to entice them to be their slaves, er.. come work for them, they have to pull that $$ from somewhere, so they cut support, non-essential employee payroll. The state doesn't come shut you down if you have inadequate tech help (in most states), but they usually frown on dispensing without a pharmacist present.

It is very upsetting to me. I do not want to work like that anymore. I want to practice pharmacy, not just serve as a license on the wall. The job is so stressful, so hectic, so unfulfilling and mindless at times. The idea of doing that for 30 or 40 years sounds about as appealing as being tortured for 30 or 40 years. Which is essentially what it is. All the money in the world is not worth ruining your physical and mental health to try, futilely in many cases, to help people who could not care less about anything other than their fuel perks, coupons, or how much their copay is. I just cannot allow myself to be abused like that anymore. I am not going to be some one's pharmacy whore.