Submitted by AaronDotCom t3_yfvswo in nottheonion
Comments
Almainyny t1_iu5mc15 wrote
Plus the incentive to go faster may mean the pharmacist might make mistakes. Mistakes are the last thing you want to have happen when a patient’s health is on the line. Period.
DertyCajun t1_iu66727 wrote
Don't worry. Walgreens has a plan for that. They immediately turn it over to an insurance company to fight for them. The insurance company will quickly tell you that taking the wrong or too much of a medication for a week isn't a big deal. Problem solved.
Almainyny t1_iu68qid wrote
Fucking insurance companies. Of course they’d have their dirty hands in this too.
Thoughtfulprof t1_iu6i6wd wrote
The older I get, the more I think that capitalism and insurance are a terrible mix.
AlHuntar t1_iu83ssn wrote
Insurance is capitalisms natural progression. Not saying there shouldn't just be stuff like healthcare for all. But mediocre costing care, for high monthly rates, and the ability to legally drain your opponent in court when they will never have the resources to fight you sounds like easy profit. Why wouldn't insurance be as scummy as it is.
mikehamm45 t1_iu7m6tv wrote
Its not the making of a mistake you should be worried about, that doesn’t happen often… it’s not finding the mistakes that should worry you.
A pharmacist’s chief role is to find the mistakes, prevent the errors from getting do you.
If doctors where perfect, it wouldn’t be necessary to have a pharmacist.
apoliticalinactivist t1_iu70f0k wrote
This is why you dont hire biz consultants to actually manage your company, only to advise. Making decisions like 90% faster saving $X and only costing $Y in lawsuits!
Sometimes you get objectively malicious/idiotic metrics too, like Bush #2 evaluating teachers based on year over year improvement in pass rate. Only problem is that students change every year and excellent teachers have no where to go but down...
Narethii t1_iu7gtas wrote
Yeah this isn't very oniony...
Gafnaal t1_iu5lven wrote
The worrying thing is they’ve decided it’s cheaper to pay lawsuits for injured or killed patients than it is to adequately staff pharmacies. It’s also cheaper to pay fines -CVS Walgreens agree
Galanza t1_iu5m97e wrote
Retail pharmacy is not appreciated considering how hard we work as a whole.
Bubbagumpredditor t1_iu5rzdq wrote
I'm sure someone is eagerly trying to replace you with a pill dispenser that won't notice the new med conflicts with the other one you're on and kills you.
Ryimax t1_iu5uw7j wrote
I'm gonna be honest, a machine would be more likely to notice that
Lysandren t1_iu6kolg wrote
You would be surprised how often a million+ dollar pharmacy dispenser can break down. >.>
Ryimax t1_iu71yoe wrote
Whether or not it checks to see if medications conflict would have negligible effect on how often it breaks
Bubbagumpredditor t1_iu5wxc3 wrote
Not with the amount the pharmacies will be willing to spend on it.
Ryimax t1_iu5xdpg wrote
... do you know how computers work?
It would require checks notes the same amount of processing power as like a low end computer tops. They landed on the moon with a calculator, I think a phone can read some lists
shinobipopcorn t1_iu6kard wrote
Your headache pill bad for fetuses. You can grow fetuses. Therefore you can't have headache pill. Problem solved by good computer. What, complaint? Computer no take complaint, appeal to bean counter, receive reply in six months.
With headache. Hope you don't take that drug for epilepsy like some do!
Ryimax t1_iu73ccn wrote
A human could determine if you're pregnant or not the same way they already do, and the machine could just have access to it. If it's something you're not supposed to take If you can get pregnant, then a human doctor shouldn't give you it either.
Bubbagumpredditor t1_iu6391l wrote
Oh, and who's going to pay for the monthly updates and programming for those lists Mr smarty pants.
You make it sound like computers don't fuck ahit up all the time
Sea-Cancel1263 t1_iu6gt1g wrote
Ok grandpa, time to go sit back down
GuetschMan t1_iu63xa2 wrote
Would also have to make the program perfect. Lots of false flags needing manual review or missed flags meaning lawsuits.
Ryimax t1_iu72xwi wrote
False flags or missed flags would not occur if it follows whatever rules doctors do. A doctor doesn't have to determine if it's a stoplight or stop sign. The determination for whether or not medications conflict is a set of variables that are few enough to be programmed with as much relative ease as any other program
GetlostMaps t1_iu64zhy wrote
A pharmacist on the end of a video link from India. Problem solved.
GuetschMan t1_iu672nf wrote
Sure they could. Would need diplomas from accredited schools, licensure in whatever states they are remotely working in. Maybe someday, would take a long time to change probably.
Ryimax t1_iu73l3w wrote
You do realize that if enough places have the machines from the same company then that's not really a problem. This system only works if enough places have the same machine
CuteCatBoy69 t1_iu7sa3j wrote
Drug interactions have been automatically checked by pharmacy software since like the 90s. Pill counting machines have also existed. The trouble with automating a pharmacy technician's job is how dynamic it is. Pharmacy techs do like 20 different things all throughout the day to keep the pharmacy going. Putting pills into bottles is just one part of the equation, and even that's not always cut and dry.
It'll be a good few decades before pharmacy techs start getting replaced I'd wager. Pharmacists are probably in the same boat. In a retail setting anyway. You could definitely run a mail order pharmacy without techs, assuming you had people to maintain the machines and stock the pills.
cramduck t1_iu5m07e wrote
hopefully they can cut down on turnover and get some more staff. it's crazy how long the pharmacy waits are.
Dhen3ry t1_iu5zxwd wrote
That is by design. If an employee has half a second to catch their breath, that's waste. They want to ensure there is always more work to be done than can possibly be done. Not just in that industry either. Employees are always a cost to be cut, not a service to customers to improve their experience. (Same logic applies to "Your call is very important to us." If it was that important, they would hire enough people to answer the calls in a timely manner)
Vormi23 t1_iu8soo6 wrote
Yet they push that survey count onto employees demanding so many perfect surveys a week/month. Overworked staff are incentivized to quickly go through the line, not provide good service.
Lysandren t1_iu6jzqt wrote
They pay shit wages, so their techs don't stay once they get experience.
CuteCatBoy69 t1_iu7sl93 wrote
Pharmacies aren't emergency medical facilities. Waiting an hour or two for a script is fine and should be expected.
cramduck t1_iu9mbjf wrote
I meant an hour or two just waiting to pick up the script they took 2 days to fill. Granted, it's usually because there's only one person working the counter, and the three people in front of me are apparently using a pharmacy for the first time in their lives..
colin8651 t1_iu6jx7u wrote
I feel bad for Walgreen/CVS pharmacist. Pharmacist don’t just count pills and put them in the bottle. In a hospital setting they tell the doctor how to deliver treatment on difficult cases because the pharmacist knows more about chemistry than the doctor.
In CVS it’s explaining that the doctor didn’t call in the script yet
Internet_Ugly t1_iu76e3f wrote
If a pharmacist is good, they both have to explain to the patient that it isn’t in yet, and have time to speak to a doctor about proper alternatives that won’t kill the patient due to a drug interaction. But when I was at Walgreens, you didn’t have time to breathe much less call a doctor to explain failing a proper titration schedule on a medication can cause kidney failure, mind blips, extreme narcolepsy, or rash.
mikehamm45 t1_iu7lzkm wrote
I was a Walgreens pharmacist
There were days which I could not honestly confirm the safety of scripts that went through my hands
The countless errors that I found, always made me think for every one I found, how many did I miss
It’s not a safe work environment, I would not recommend chain pharmacies
Leiryn t1_iu98f4i wrote
I tried to go to a private pharmacy once during covid. No masks on anyone, elderly people shuffling around coughing. Haven't found another one yet
seriousbangs t1_iu679o4 wrote
I guess that's a good thing, but how about forcing them to fill prescriptions for birth control & abortion pills?
If you have a moral problem with the job, quit. The people doing this would be the first to tell me that if I refused to, say, sell guns to Republicans.
shashinqua t1_iu8bypu wrote
Where do you live that p harm acists sell guns? I think your lying. Yet more Russian misinformation? I know they brag about the harm part of their names, but they shoved pills down our throats, not bullets as you claim.
MuperSario-AU t1_iu8d5l2 wrote
> Where do you live that p harm acists sell guns?
They never specified that a pharmacy was the one selling them, dumbass. It's a rhetorical statement about moral issues with your current state of employment.
Ande64 t1_iu6gwq7 wrote
When I was a nursing supervisor in a hospital we had a pharmacist who was tremendously socially awkward but was brilliant. He had to deal with the public frequently, unfortunately for him I think, but I tell you if I ever had to have a med made or a bag mixed or anything else I would want that guy to do it. He was methodical and careful and probably took twice as long as everybody else and I doubt he ever killed anyone.
Dhen3ry t1_iu5zlqo wrote
You will instead be judged by how many credit card signups you get, I presume
Egrizzzzz t1_iu7t2jg wrote
Honestly they’re probably doing away with this metric because pharmacies are so understaffed time based metrics became meaningless. I’m sure they’ll find some other stick to bludgeon measure employees with.
We aren’t slow because we derive sick joy from patients being nasty with us. If a pharmacy is “always slow” it is because we are understaffed. Usually by one to two full time technicians. If they actually want to speed things up they need to pay more to attract employees and actually invest in training more technicians.
rocketman_67 t1_iu6x7az wrote
I worked at as a pharmacy tech at a Walgreens for a couple years and I am glad that they are now not worried about speed. Patient Care is of utmost importance in that field
lennybriscoforthewin t1_iu7gyw5 wrote
I was in Walgreens the other day and a lady came back in because they gave her the wrong prescription! Thank goodness she noticed. I recently transferred my prescription to this Walgreens and it was for 30 pills, they gave me like 90. The pharmacist also was holding a phone to each ear, talking to the lady who got the wrong prescription, and the line was so long. There were about 4 employees but they were stretched so thin. I felt so badly for them.
CuteCatBoy69 t1_iu7te23 wrote
People who get "the wrong prescription" 99% of the time are just dipshits who don't know what pills they take and put in refill requests for the wrong ones. They're still prescribed those meds, they just don't actually want them for whatever reason. Very different scenario than giving someone meds they weren't prescribed.
And yes, it's standard practice to fill for 90 days instead of 30 when the prescription and insurance both allow it. That's fully intentional and not a mistake.
Gotta understand when you hear things from outside the pharmacy or read threads like these, a huge portion of retail pharmacy patients are dumb as bricks and often cause problems for themselves because they don't have the faintest clue about anything involving their own healthcare or how the healthcare system operates. And of course they'll try and somehow twist their own mistakes around to be the pharmacy's mistake, because they're incapable of being accountable for themselves. Working in a pharmacy is honestly fucking awful just because of how incredibly stupid the people you have to deal with are. They're the types of people to piss straight into a jet engine's backdraft after you tell them not to and then scream at you because they got wet.
DarthDregan t1_iu5pylb wrote
Old people handle that aspect for them.
zoinkability t1_iu7eato wrote
They will still pay them less, they just won’t think worse of them
Wendell-at2020 t1_iu7py9k wrote
I would be happy if the staff would just dispense meds and keep their fantasy beliefs to themselves
FirebirdWriter t1_iu7t398 wrote
I left them as a client when they tried to convince me the bottle of "pain meds" was actually that. I have taken my same dose for over ten years. These were yellow and twice the size. So I pulled out the print out because this was pre smart phones and showed them the medicine that was in the bottle and what I found on a medication database I had access to as I was a medical student. They were heart meds that would have killed me at the dosage because it was the maximum and I did not need them. They didn't apologize and tried to get out of refunding my copay and returning the script. I actually had to call the cops. Got my meds at a smaller pharmacy next door that they eventually ran out of business but that was the third time they had messed up that way.
GetlostMaps t1_iu7ye4m wrote
This is overdue. In an industry where making an error may kill someone, I expect their insurer encouraged them to do this, and it's well overdue. By about 20 years.
spoonsmeller t1_iu8lr1t wrote
I used to work for a large UK telecoms company. When our department (technical support) was formed we were told that time targets were not important and to try to resolve issues on first call. We won every customer service industry awards for the first two years. The management changed and more and more targets were Introduced and lo and behold the awards stopped. The biggest problem with these kind of metrics is that without seeing the bigger picture, those who most often hit these targets are promoted in the organisation, thus perpetuating the number centric mindset. I once lost my bonus for a month because on one call I only used the customer's name twice.
TricksterWolf t1_iu9fnaz wrote
It won't stop me.
bossy909 t1_iu6j7kk wrote
...And they can still refuse service based on their stupid religious beliefs
FrodoFraggins t1_iu6kr1d wrote
They used to be my go to pharmacy but then all of the good employees bailed.
Djrook44 t1_iu79mgs wrote
You are right. But judge them to fuck if they give u heart meds when ur there for anxiety meds. Sue trust
[deleted] t1_iu7dzcx wrote
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Sea_Contribution_629 t1_iu7fv65 wrote
DeDend21 t1_iu7kgzs wrote
Having dated a pharmacist this is certainly good news for some of them.
JamJatJar t1_iu7zu4g wrote
Hey, at least I didn't die when they dispensed 90x 10mg methadone with instructions to take 1 tablet 3x per day instead of the 90x 5mg methadone the prescription actually said to dispense. I may have WANTED to die 2 days after I filled my next month's Rx and they gave me the 5mg tablets again. But hey, in still here to type this so that floater pharmacist who was in because they refitted to pay for enough people to staff the store didn't do anything wrong, right?
mxlun t1_iu7zu4h wrote
**will screen potential employees work speeds and hire based off of this in the first place
5kyl3r t1_iu81xd9 wrote
they lost A LOT of business i think since the beginning of this year. my local walgreens had a period of time months ago when the line was huge and it was impossible to get through the pharmacy window without sitting in the parking lot for over an hour. calls never went through. it was hell when i was needing to renew. their website on google maps had pages of one star reviews (now including mine), and even the ones near it. switched to csv and haven't looked back. they always seem short staffed and their staff always looked overworked
edit: oh and they emailed me (they being CEO, allegedly) saying something like "we get it, we hold ourselves to high standards and we currently are missing the mark, blah blah". too late
Xalynden t1_iu8fok8 wrote
Ooh story time from just this morning. I needed to get a vaccination for my daughter so she could keep going to school. Checked the hours on Walgreens website and saw that they opened at 8am (including the pharmacy) and got down there at about 8:15. Walked back to the pharmacy and waited at the counter for someone to greet me and when someone came over this is the convo that we had.
Employee: Yeah I think we have one dose of that left but we normally don't do vaccinations this early. (This info was not on the website at all)
Employee 2 comes over: Yeah we're real busy putting away truck and we don 't normally start those till 9:30am. Can you come back at 2:30pm?
Me: I really need to be getting her to school. Could I come back at 9:30?
Employee 2: *Hems and haws for a moment* Okay fine we can go ahead and do it. *walks away goes back to furiously putting away the truck*
After that it took less than 5 minutes to do paperwork and pay for it. Sat and waited for 15 minutes while they continued putting away the truck. When they finally got to us (there were no other customers) the vaccination itself only took about 2 minutes.
[deleted] t1_iu8jj0o wrote
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rscottyb86 t1_iu8xjce wrote
Great....now we can wait even longer to get out prescription filled....
Bangkok_Dangeresque t1_iub1rw5 wrote
The national Adderall shortage must be getting serious
SirThatsCuba t1_iu6lo8c wrote
Oh good so the Walgreens near me that always has a two hour line just to tell you you need to wait two hours for them to fill the Rx you just got a text that it was already filled, they won't be judged on that metric.
CuteCatBoy69 t1_iu7sv22 wrote
Try actually reading your messages for once. I know it's hard but "this prescription is ready" and "this prescription is ready to be refilled" actually mean different things.
SirThatsCuba t1_iu81x1h wrote
Some of us are literate, smartass. When you get a "this prescription is ready" text and they tell you they haven't filled it yet when you show up, yeah. That's Walgreens.
LoverboyQQ t1_iu74ah4 wrote
Walgreens and the DMV where time goes to die
Donebrach t1_iu6gjtv wrote
No wonder going there takes FOREVER.
Kind_Bullfrog_4073 t1_iu73d8j wrote
Walgreens already takes forever guess they want to be worse.
mathaiser t1_iu7ebft wrote
Why is the pharmacy always so slow though.
CuteCatBoy69 t1_iu7tn5d wrote
Because they're not emergency care facilities and have to fill hundreds of prescriptions per day as well as deal with insurance issues, idiotic doctors, moronic customers, give vaccines, and run Covid tests. If you want a drug refilled then why not use some common sense and call in advance to have it filled? If you've got a new script to drop off then yeah you're gonna be waiting because clearly you're not in imminent need otherwise you'd still be at the hospital. Put on your big boy pants and suck it up, nobody gives a shit.
Specialist_Silver_60 t1_iu79l4m wrote
There already slow so you judging them was not working lol
lago_b t1_iu7fc7q wrote
Oh so that's why it tool me 45 minutes to get a vaccination there the other day and the workers didn't seem to be in a rush at all?!
CuteCatBoy69 t1_iu7thxm wrote
Only some staff members are certified to give vaccinations. And yeah, vaccines are low priority. Go to the fucking health department, pharmacies are for prescriptions, stop treating them like walk-in clinics.
NthngToSeeHere t1_iu5im9i wrote
They used to? Coulda fooled me.
Especially once they were more worried about vaxing than filling scripts.
And covid testing.
HobbitFoot t1_iu5lf5s wrote
That is probably a good idea. Not thinking of it too hard, people might think higher number is better. However, there may be reasons that there is variance across staff, like complications with the prescription or patient.