‘How could this have happened?’ WRAL investigates pharmacy errors
http://www.wral.com/-how-could-this-have-happened-wral-investigates-pharmacy-errors/13346224/
From the article :
Pharmacies in the U.S. make about 51 million errors a year, according to a Pharmacy Times study, — that is only 140,000 PER DAY !
Delaney said, adding that she called the pharmacist to report the error. “She just said she was in a rush and that she was sorry.”
is “in a rush” a euphemism for UNDER STAFFED ?
the business said: “We apologized to Ms. Delaney and corrected the prescription as soon as this incident was brought to our attention. We are committed to continually improving quality measures to help ensure that prescriptions are dispensed safely and accurately.”
I don’t go looking for these issues.. they tend to find their way to my inbox ! I just wonder how many errors never see scrutiny.. the patient never says a word ?
Filed under: General Problems
Having been employed by CVS for 5 years, I know that it is not humanly possible to be a real pharmacist and work in that environment. We were expected to answer calls in less than a minute, respond to drive in window in less than a minute, make MTM calls to 20-30 folks a day, give vaccinations, and oh by the way, fill prescriptions at 300-400 a day. It is a house of cards that will inevitably collapse.
Pharmacists need a “wake up call?” What? Does the general public really think that no oath-taking pharmacist ever loses sleep over the possibility of having caused serious harm to a patient? This fear is what drives the sometimes unbearable stress I experience in a field that has become a complete breeding ground for inattention blindness errors as our corporate employers continue shrink our ratio of manpower to workload. It’s the major cross I bear.
And, “Speed is no excuse?” Oh sweet Jesus! How much more gaslighting can these medical-industrial corporations and their State Board-appointed minions inflict upon pharmacists? Timers on trained athletes is one thing. But holding a stopwatch over someone performing critical tasks that affect the safety of others – this has no psychological effect impair one’s executive functioning, attention, etc while performing that task?
I could go on and on here but in the meantime I can rest assured that at least my Valentines shopping needs will be taking care of:
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/valentines-day-commercial/n45814
Retail pharmacies are under huge pressures to produce as fast as possible. I am aware of a study that indicated that the AVERAGE prescription takes 32 steps. Of these are several critical decisions about appropriate dosing, appropriate drug vs indication, and interactions. My pharmacy needs to fill 1 Rx every 2.4 minutes with 1 pharmacist and 3.2 (8 hr shifts) ancillary staff. The pharmacist NEVER gets a break or lunch period, grabs a bite of food here and there, and frequently works a 12 hour shift. State law does not require lunch breaks for a pharmacist but the company does require that the rest of the staff clocks out for lunch. Add to this > 75 phone calls per day. Corporate greed causes most of these errors because these are impossible conditions. The pharmacist’s license can be lost and thus the welfare of this family jepordized. Add to this the terrible possibility that someone can be hurt or worse!
I have permanent lyrics damaged feet and back from standing stationary for hours on end. Being on your feet is one thing but not being able to move from your station for hours because there are too many patients standing in line is quite something else. But, profits are up!
And the moron middle management’s response is total bewilderment as to why customer satisfaction has gone down along with staging hours. Perhaps they should take a business basics refresher course and spend less time keeping an eye on their stock performance tied bonus.