Pharmacists Wanting a Career Change?

If you could go back to the day you decided to become a pharmacist, would you do it again?

I will pause and give you time to think though if you are like me, you may not need that much time to say yes or no.

Someone in my family who I respect told me recently that pharmacists generally are a group of whiners with the inability to manage or lead very well. You cannot generalize the whole lot of us in one broad statement, but...

Why are pharmacists so unhappy?

Well for starters, pharmacists are not in the position to be power players of knowledge and expertise. Yes, we are players of knowledge but we cannot really bill for it, so all of the advice we give to those at the counter and prescribers at the hospital is free, thus we have no power. Consults are free. Telling someone how to take their medication is free and in fact is taking away from the 150 prescriptions per hour that the district managers and corporate leaders are needing to make a profit. We are no different in our billing structure than when I worked in a seed factory working a quota for money on the line and if I hit the magical 101% production, I could make a little more money.

Pharmacists don't make businesses a lot of money but are highly paid. In other words poor return on investment.

The best article I have read on the matter is written by Jerry Fahrni "Why Pharmacy Continues to Fail." I highly recommend it. It sheds light into all things pharmacy and how the profession continues to stagnate from business to leadership.

So, what to do. Stay or find a new career?

That is the question. Do we wait around for law to change, which it will eventually, or do we go ahead and research and find another way to make a difference in patients' lives? I still believe nursing would have been a better choice with expanded provider status, working hand-in-hand as part of the healthcare team with direct patient care and learning directly from physicians. Nurses can operate walk-in clinics with retail pharmacies and bring business while we are still getting paid for dispensing.

Pharmacist Provider Status Gains Traction

Drugmonkey Was Dooced by Rite-Aid

Follow my blog with Bloglovin I've often had fears in the past about blogging.  I know I have personally taken great care to not blog about where I work, personal information regarding work (HIPAA violations), negative posts about current management, or anything that would seem inappropriate from the standpoint of the corporation I draw my living.  To be honest, I don't work for a retail big pharma organization as this blogger did.  I USED to work for Eckerd before it was bought (I think?) by Rite Aid, and I do remember the day-to-day struggles.  It was the reason I begged for a home health infusion job with a $20,000 pay cut per year just to leave retail forever back in 2002.  Back then though... retail jobs were a dime a dozen.  I don't know how it is where Drugmonkey lives today (CA, I think?) but here... crickets.

David Stanley (Drugmonkey).  Seemingly someone I would want on my team, perhaps.  Seemingly someone who tells it like it is and also writes for Drug Topics.  Well, he was fired by Rite-Aid.  And though he and I are different in many ways (political, for one), I kind of like to imagine had I stayed in retail ten years ago this is what I would have become.  I do believe that this is his chance to change and that something so out-of-ordinary as firing for a blog post (which has happened before... thus the term Dooced) can turn into something better.  He deserves better than Rite-Aid!

Did you know he can write really well?  No I'm not saying he can write well.  He can write really REALLY well.

Rite-Aid was probably scared of that and waiting for the perfect post to bring down the guillotine to his career with Rite-Aid.  What they didn't expect though is the result of this firing and what this is going to do to their company.

I'm expecting to see this story go viral, only if enough people get a hold of it and pass it on.

Rite-Aid fires pharmacist for a blog post.

Pass it on...

From Drug Topics by David Stanley, RPh just a few days ago:

Members of seven Southern California locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) have voted to reject a contract offer from drug retailer Rite Aid and to authorize union leaders to call a strike if an agreement can’t be reached.

Although specific numbers weren’t immediately released, the union called the vote, which took place from July 26 through July 30, “overwhelming” and said in a statement, “The members’ emphatic rejection of Rite Aid’s demands and their vote for strike authorization will push management toward negotiating an agreement the workers can ratify.”

According to the same statement, the UFCW says that Rite Aid is seeking 34 concessions from workers, including:

• Effective elimination of healthcare for workers' spouses and children

• An increase in out-of-pocket costs for healthcare benefits of up to $10,000 a year

• Virtual elimination of all accumulated sick leave pay

• Reduction of the number of hours workers are allowed to work

• Elimination of the 40-hour work week and 24-hour guarantee for part-time employees

In a statement of its own, Rite Aid announced, “The specifics of our proposal are matters we will be discussing at the bargaining table with the Union as we continue to work hard to reach a fair agreement for all involved.

“We’re disappointed that the Union has called for a strike authorization vote and think such a vote is premature, especially since the Union hasn’t even given us a counter proposal to our first proposal.”

The proposal would affect all store employees except store managers, including pharmacists, at Rite Aid locations from Kern County south to the Mexican border. The soonest a strike could begin would be August 8, 72 hours after the current contract extension is set to expire.

The union is also currently in negotiations with CVS/Caremark.

Related articles

• Sounds Like Rite Aid Is Fully Expecting The Southern California Strike To Go Down. (drugmonkey.blogspot.com)
• Rite Aid Workers Encouraged to Strike (sandiego6.com)
• Tonight, The First In A New Series: Blog Posts That Somehow Did *Not* Get Me Fired. (drugmonkey.blogspot.com)

Pharmacy and Your Niche

What led you to choose pharmacy as a career? For me, it was a mention of "oh by the way, I am not only a chemistry advisor, I am a pre-pharmacy advisor" by a brilliant analytic chemistry professor, Dr. Anthony Harmon. I was just 21 years old, and I did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up. He pointed me toward pharmacy. I envied the quiet genius a lot of the serious chemistry majors seemed to possess. I was a more outgoing having fun type. Dr. Harmon told me a career in a chemistry lab may not mesh well with my personality. Well, let's be real... I wasn't an A student in his quantitative analysis class either. Pharmacy was suddenly on my radar.

I took the PCAT. Who knows what I made. My undergrad GPA was 3.2. Being female used to be a minority, but not in pharmacy in 1993. In fact at the time, being male was the minority. I was finishing my third year of undergrad and decided I'd apply to a handful of universities.

I had a couple of acceptances but really wanted the University of Tennessee at Memphis. I was told on the phone I was 99.9% in, so go ahead and respond decline to the private universities who accepted you. I turned down the schools and then received a rejection letter from UT. Guess i was that 0.1% eluded by the assistant dean. Talk about a downer. A lot of students do go the political route and a lot of acceptances are based on who you know, but I didn't until the rejection.

I reached out to some "who you know" types with my story and got accepted for the next year. So... I spent my fourth year in undergrad finishing a degree and biding my time. At least I did not have to reapply.

So there you have it. I remember thinking the pharmacist who worked in my small hometown had a large house. I didn't realize it wasn't pharmacy more than the sheer fact he had his own business. This is key.

Thirteen years later I realize you can make a good living in pharmacy or a great one in finding your niche within.

Have you found your niche?

The Most Hilarious (and not-so-hilarious-moments) in the Past 10+ Years of Pharmacy

This post has been long time in the making, and also a move toward a coming out of sorts for the Blonde Pharmacist.  It is time to just be me, if you know what I mean, so let's start out with a post about the past.  The most hilarious moments in the past 10 years of being a pharmacist (and not-so-hilarious-moments). 1.  Sometime during 1999, Keith Urban was living in the middle Tennessee area where I was working.  He wasn't a bit name at all, and in fact, in the Country Music City to make it.  (Make it, he did).  I worked in a small retail pharmacy with a fabulous technician named Kim and another pharmacist named Ladona.  Keith came in from time to time with his fabulous Australian accent.  Of course, I cannot divulge what he took medication wise, but I can say that he is indeed short, and was friendly.  It wasn't too much longer he sent in a driver...  he made it big.  This is a hilarious moment only because it was my only brush with celebrity while working.  Fun stuff.

2.  I was a floater for the same retail company and was working in a store one afternoon.  The best part of being a floater is that there isn't a lot of responsibility as far as the operations part of the day.  I would go in, do my job, and leave.  However, this one day, there was a man that came in holding what looked like a five year old needing an early refill on his son's albuterol nebules.  I told him he'd have to pay for them because TennCare wouldn't cover them early.  He was irate and began squeezing his son.  "Daddy!  You're squeezing me.  You're hurting me!"  He replied to his son rather dramatically, "Son, I'm not hurting you, SHE is!!"  As a twenty-something pharmacist, I sort of lost it at that moment.  "What am I doing a jedi mind trick on your son?"  It wasn't long after that, I knew retail wasn't for me.  I couldn't let it roll. I kept going with him, "I'm gonna have your job!"  He said angrily.  "You can have it!"  I replied.

If I can give some advice here it would be... learn to let it roll.  Don't lose your cool.

3.  JB.  The HIV positive homeless man that threatened to have my brains on the parking lot if I didn't fill his alprazolam 2 mg QID two weeks early.  Needless to say I didn't, and he was my last straw.  Good-bye retail forever.  I figured JB didn't really have much to lose.

4.  AG the former crack addict who kicked the habit for many many years only to die after shooting up again.  Some of the conversations we had were priceless in hindsight during a time I needed friends so desperately.

5.  Not a hilarious moment or not - but a moment where this blonde pharmacist worked for THE BLONDE pharmacist.  She was such a positive influence and hired me for home infusion with no experience.  Glad she gave me a chance.

6.  Who could forget the boss I had once who wanted to know what I was thinking once during a meeting.  The guy had more degrees than anyone I've met but yet asked the strangest questions.  My response, "Last time I checked, thoughts were still private property."  LOL  Seriously though, he sort of lost cred with me when a close friend and coworker was in labor and he stalled her for awhile to wrap up some things with her job and then took time later to brag about how he stalled her while she was in labor.  Gag.

7.  Who could forget the manager who threatened a punitive write-up in one sentence and the next began talking about Jesus.  Asked me if I had found a church.  So wrong on so many levels.

8.  Or the job interview where the pharmacy manager dove right in with the first sentence, "We'll begin our interview."  The next sentence, "Do you have kids?"

What are your most hilarious and not-so-hilarious moments in pharmacy?

Pharmacy Drive-thru and the Demise of Professionalism

What do McDonald's and Walgreens have in common? A drive-thru. That's right! In my local city, a pharmacy drive-thru wait time can easily approach 15 minutes. Seems to me they are counterproductive. So for your reading pleasure, some links to drive-thru rants and observations.

I just want somehow for the pharmacist to stop trying to counsel me on new medications.

1. Someone got trapped in one.

2. Drive thru etiquette

3. Pharmacists believe delays and errors more common due to drive-thru.

4. Ban 'em.

Rite Aid Failure

When will big retail pharmacy chains learn? Rite Aid deserves a slap on the wrist for what it has promised potential customers.

Really Rite-Aid? Really? You've stooped to an all new low trying to compete with CVS and Walgreens. Yes there are reasons that won't qualify a patient for the $5 reward for the pharmacist not complying... but guess who gets to explain to every patient the rules? That's right! Your employee. Way to make working for Rite-Aid to be the worst possible retail company to work for.

Stock is worth less than $1.50.

Instead of making your employees hate you Rite-Aid, how about coming up with something not so dangerous?

I suppose Rite-Aid is imagining most stores do less than 200 rxs/day. Are they hiring more pharmacists to help meet this demand? What steps are put into place to ensure this is something a pharmacist can do SAFELY. So a company whose shareholders have stock at $1.00 a share wants to give away more of their money when the RULE isn't met?

RITE-AID YOU FAIL. You fail on every level. You fail on appearance, professionalism, and ethics.

It won't be long though and Rite-Aid will be off the street for good.

This is Rite-Aid's hail mary pass.

Will Rite Aid Closing Be Another Loss In Our Failing Economy?

Several years ago, pharmacy jobs, especially retail, were a dime a dozen. You could literally get ill at your supervisor and decide to leave and have another job along with a nifty sign on bonus the next day. I'm not so sure that is the current state of things here. I keep getting more and more news stories of Walgreens buying up Rite Aid stores. Remember Rite Aid was the pharmacy that bought JC Penney's Eckerd in the hope of competing with the bigger and more lucrative Walgreens and CVS. I fear if Rite Aid DOES close, at least HERE anyway, things in the pharmacy market will become more grim. Instead of a pharmacists' market, it will become the opposite. It makes me want to cling to my current job with everything I have, and it's all due to news and our economy. Walgreens to Acquire 12 Rite Aid Locations

Rite Aid Feels Walmart Pressure (another reason I do not like Wal-mart)

15 Companies That May Not Survive in 2009 (Rite Aid listed)

How to Make the Transition from Retail to ANYTHING Else

You've finally reached the end of the line in retail.  You've had enough of the rude public, the non-pharmacist managers, and the corporate cuts.  You are ready to have an hour lunch (maybe) and normal bathroom breaks.  You are ready to feel a little more professional.  Sorry, retail pharmacists, you know it's true.  Yes, you probably make more money than me, but at least I'm not worried about my health.  (I was working retail in a terrible part of town.  All of the good areas were full with waiting lists of pharmacists ready to transfer out just like me.  I just chose a quicker path). The first thing that is entering your mind as I'm noticing on a couple of comments here is that you think a special amount of training is required.  Let's first think about hospital pharmacy.  You can transfer from retail to hospital pharmacy fairly easily.  Hospitals can train you.  There is a lot to learn, yes, but I was up-to-speed in two months.  I worked five years in retail, if that helps at all.

You will have to learn about the hospital's formulary, allergy list, and perhaps coumadin and pharmacokinetic dosing again.  You will certainly have a lot of pharmacists willing to help.  There will be no more jerks in line waiting on you to hand them their papersack with drugs; you will merely have a function to be a part of the team that helps to heal the acutely and chronically ill.  You will revisit sterile technique to mix IVs, chemo, and TPN. (I hope, though it seems the hospitals I worked in didn't observe this at all!)

And most importantly... you will have a life back.  No more driving home from work in retail and a customer follow you home.  No more jerks waiting until 3 minutes before close to get 10 prescriptions filled... all new.

I don't regret leaving retail at all.  I do regret losing the knowledge of some of the new drugs since graduation, but it's worth it for peace of mind and life.

I hope that helps.

Why Does it Take So Long to Fill My Prescription?

The age old question that used to make my toes curl...  why does it take so long to fill my prescription?  If you search around the net, you'll find non medical people discussing, and it's hilarious: Why does it take so long to refill my prescription?  I went there yesterday and it took them 2 hours to refill my medicine.  I wanted to call the manager to complain but thought I'd ask here first.

Yahoo's best answer voted (not kidding):  If they did it in 2 minutes, you wouldn't value them as much. You'd think that they were just technicians putting pills in a bottle.

They have to make you wait to preserve the mystique.

Yeah, that's it baby.  We need more value?  We love mystique.

Basically the bottom line is that there are hundreds ahead of you!

Paternity Testing Available More Discreetly

Friday , February 29, 2008

By Marrecca Fiore

Who needs Maury Povich when paternity tests are now available at Rite Aid, Meijer and other pharmacies for just $29.99?

The Identigene DNA Paternity Test Collection Kit was first rolled out in Washington State, Oregon and California in November last year, according to Rite Aid spokeswoman Ashley Flower. The company continues to evaluate whether it should expand the kits to other states, she said.

According to the Identigene's Web site, the tests compare genetic information obtained from cheek swabs collected from both the child and the father. The swabs are then sent to the company's laboratory along with a $119 lab fee. The results are mailed within five business days.

While the tests are believed to be accurate (the company's Web site says they're 99 percent accurate), there are some reasons why women and couples may want to consult a professional laboratory for paternity tests, said Brad Imler, president of the American Pregnancy Association.

"There's no risk of harm from a medical standpoint," he said. "Although they're not admissible in court. And, from an emotional standpoint, it's a good idea to see a professional. It doesn't have to be a doctor, but someone who is prepared to discuss the result with you if it comes back in a way you were not expecting."

Imler said some people, especially married couples, may find the results of paternity tests traumatic.

"Whatever the circumstances are that bring someone to the point of needing a paternity test, that's irrelevant," he said. "The professionals associated with the laboratories are trained to present the results in a way that doesn't cause panic or in a way that reduces panic."

Both Rite Aid and Identigene representatives say the tests have brought no more controversy than at-home home pregnancy, blood pressure, cholesterol and drug tests did when they were first introduced.

"There was a lot of concern when the home pregnancy test first came out," said Douglas Fogg, chief operating officer for Identigene. "Would people use it correctly? Would people be able to handle the results?

"We have been providing home DNA testing since 1993 and on the rare occasion we'll have a client that has a hard time dealing with the results," he continued. "Most of our clientele are aware of what the results will be. They don't want to involve lawyers or physicians. They just want confirmation in a quick, easy and confidential way."

Fogg said the company’s Web site provides consumers with counseling information

"Some people are devastated by the result of a paternity test," he said. "A paternity test can have a life-changing result. For those that need professional help in dealing with their situation, our Web site offers references to family counseling services that can provide people with the help they need."

Fogg said 60 percent of Identigene's clients are females. Some users are looking to confirm their own paternity. Almost 30 percent of purchasers buy the test for someone other than themselves, according to the company's own surveys.

The tests are sold in 1,000 pharmacies nationwide, Fogg said. He said all pharmacies have reported sales and the company is pleased with the interest. The tests are also marketed online and through resellers.