I am a brand new pharmacist with CVS and I am struggling and would like to know what I can do to make things better. I was working at a store (floater-- first full day) where we were going orange in QP and QT in first few hours and those numbers just kept growing even though we had 2 techs and me. I was able to keep up with QV and help with customers, calls etc. At one point in the day, I had to tell the techs that we need to really catch up and tech replied...."this is our everyday thing, you will get things done by the end of the day." I was the only person for last hour at the pharmacy so I really had to push tech to at least pull the drugs so that I can count and verify. I checked 60 scripts after closing and tidy up the place before I left. I did clear all the queues for that day until 9pm but by the time I left I had chest pain. What am I doing wrong? What can I do better?
New pharmacist...what am I doing wrong?
- Thread starter redmuskan
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You are not doing anything wrong. Actually you are doing exactly what they want. Just keep trying to run faster on that hamster wheel.
I do not think that it would have helped me to train one more week in a slow store. I know that this happens to most of us and we have to improve. I am just asking for advise. I had cleared all QT before techs showed up, and I was never behind in QV and I was helping out in QT and with pretty much everything. I think that I failed to make sure that techs were working efficiently. I do not know....
Update: Just talked to another Pharmacist that works there and he said that the store has higher volume due to recent closing of Walgreens and their hours have not increased. He was surprised that I was able to get stuff done as much as I did. This gives me a little relief but I am sure that there is a long road ahead...
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What are you doing wrong???
Working for CVS. Cvs is the worst company to work for in america. You might over time become more efficient but cvs will come out with another 100 bull**** metrics and programs that will me another burden for you. My advice to you is to either find another job (ie supermarkets) or concentrate on what is important and that is the prescriptions you verify. All the calls they make you do and all the other **** just half ass it. If a customer calls you and the call is over 90 seconds long just say sorry I don't know you need to talk to your doctor. Just make sure you verify the scripts correctly and get the hell out. Don't worry about anything else, especially the customers because truthfully cvs doesn't either, if they did they would give you the tools and tech hours to help them.
Working for CVS. Cvs is the worst company to work for in america. You might over time become more efficient but cvs will come out with another 100 bull**** metrics and programs that will me another burden for you. My advice to you is to either find another job (ie supermarkets) or concentrate on what is important and that is the prescriptions you verify. All the calls they make you do and all the other **** just half ass it. If a customer calls you and the call is over 90 seconds long just say sorry I don't know you need to talk to your doctor. Just make sure you verify the scripts correctly and get the hell out. Don't worry about anything else, especially the customers because truthfully cvs doesn't either, if they did they would give you the tools and tech hours to help them.
tip: Verify refills faster -- look at "Fill number". If you see anything besides 00 (zero zero), check the pill image only, you do not have to check the hard copy image. Although I think it's best practice to at least glance at the hard copy image for refills, when you're behind, I would ignore it.
worst idea ever
thank you
Thank you.
Don't get in that habit, a lot of mistakes are found verifying refills.
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Yes, keep doing that, thereby proving that you have all the technician help you need to fill 1000 Rx per day. The other pharmacist who does the right thing and checks it properly will then get written up for being too slow. This is how it works. And when you fail to catch an error on a refill because you are not checking properly you will get thrown under the bus too. It's all good for the shareholders.
I would love to spend more time checking prescriptions and counsel patients on each prescription...that is my dream job. I do not mind working extra hour to finish my work that is done correctly but unfortunately they close at 10 pm and I have to leave. I refuse to leave mess for the pharmacist working next day.
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I wrote some tips to another new hire in this thread that you might find helpful. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...acist-with-minimal-retail-experience.1125582/
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How many of yall check hard copy on product verification (ie final check)? I check probably 2% of the time .. but some staff check 50-80% of the time ! We all have pretty similar error rates (reached patient <0.03% ) .. I don't know if this is a professional preference thing or what since the training pretty explicitly says to look only at the product and labels.
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You work CVS. That's what you doing wrong.
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If you had the proper time and staffing in the first place you wouldn't be finding a lot of mistakes on refills.
CVS is different, I think. At CVS, all refills go through "Input verification" and pill verification -- CVS combines these 2 steps into 1. You work at Walgreens?
I think Walgreens and Walmart has 2 separate steps "input verification" and "visual product verification". So at Walgreens and Walmart, I would assume that nobody reads the hard copy on refills -- all you do is visual verify the product.
redmuskan: just observe your PIC or a long time CVS pharmacist (without them knowning) and see how they verify refills. I would say most long time CVS pharmacists would 1. scan paper 2. scan bar code on vial (right away) 3. open vial and visual verify 4. press enter and scan their bar code
This is how they get all the readyfills done by 9 so fast - they don't check the hard copy on refills
I think Walgreens and Walmart has 2 separate steps "input verification" and "visual product verification". So at Walgreens and Walmart, I would assume that nobody reads the hard copy on refills -- all you do is visual verify the product.
redmuskan: just observe your PIC or a long time CVS pharmacist (without them knowning) and see how they verify refills. I would say most long time CVS pharmacists would 1. scan paper 2. scan bar code on vial (right away) 3. open vial and visual verify 4. press enter and scan their bar code
This is how they get all the readyfills done by 9 so fast - they don't check the hard copy on refills
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What the hell goes on over at cvs? Don't look at refills? Errors occur, why would you allow a different pharmacists error hurt you?
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At Walmart another pharmacist has to do a double verification or if there is only 1 working that day the same pharmacist does a double verification 2 hours after the first.
I don't know how it works at other places, but I know at Walmart, once the prescription has been verified at "Input verification", the pharmacist that verified that input first is responsible for the prescription until the refills run out (ONE pharmacist is responsible even if there are 11 refills). If the error was caught on the 10th refill, the pharmacist that verified that input first is responsible.
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Yeah but who will the customer go after if its serious? The original guy may be at fault but you let it go through and they want your neck.
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If a tech was involved in production, I actually check vial contents (and whether the right cap was used) before the data entry verification screen loads to save a few seconds (some people pour everything out; I just pour some into the cap 99.9% of the time - I have caught commingling this way but you won't catch some tech who is malicious enough to commingle a single wrong tablet and stick it at the bottom of the vial), sometimes using the vial label description if I don't recognize it, but this requires being experienced and instantly recognizing common drugs. As a result you don't have to spend as much time on the product verification screen.
For stuff you fill yourself, you would hope you don't have to check your own production (I don't) if you fill methodically (i.e., don't do something pointless like doing production scans without actually filling just to send something to QV), so you can save some time there as well (don't have to worry about unwarranted bypass scans, wrong cap, absence of "multiple packages scanned" message if there are supposed to be multiple packages scanned etc.)
I actually spend more time bagging than verifying so if you want to cut this corner there's another way to free up more time for verification (letting techs bag even though you are supposed to bag everything lest a dispensing error occur).
For e-scripts, the placement of data on the right panel is similar to the placement of data on the left panel, so you might be able to fill e-scripts faster than non-e-scripts by scanning left to right rapidly. This would take practice.
Ultimately you just need more experience, and eventually you will decide how comfortable you are with the time you spend on DUR resolution. (I wouldn't blast through verification on ReadyFills because a lot of times I've seen things that the patient should no longer be on and thus it shouldn't be filled.)
I don't recommend skipping data entry check ever because a fresh set of eyes can spot dispensing errors.
For stuff you fill yourself, you would hope you don't have to check your own production (I don't) if you fill methodically (i.e., don't do something pointless like doing production scans without actually filling just to send something to QV), so you can save some time there as well (don't have to worry about unwarranted bypass scans, wrong cap, absence of "multiple packages scanned" message if there are supposed to be multiple packages scanned etc.)
I actually spend more time bagging than verifying so if you want to cut this corner there's another way to free up more time for verification (letting techs bag even though you are supposed to bag everything lest a dispensing error occur).
For e-scripts, the placement of data on the right panel is similar to the placement of data on the left panel, so you might be able to fill e-scripts faster than non-e-scripts by scanning left to right rapidly. This would take practice.
Ultimately you just need more experience, and eventually you will decide how comfortable you are with the time you spend on DUR resolution. (I wouldn't blast through verification on ReadyFills because a lot of times I've seen things that the patient should no longer be on and thus it shouldn't be filled.)
I don't recommend skipping data entry check ever because a fresh set of eyes can spot dispensing errors.
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welcome to cvs, where you have 4 high towers of readyfills, it's 8pm, 1 tech and you, 2 pages left in QP, patients at drop off, pick up and drive thru, patient at counseling insisting you recommend something for her 1 month old for cough, "3 pharmacy calls", Walgreens on hold for a copy, you just read a complaint email from corporate with your name in it.
Welcome to CVS? Welcome to pharmacy.
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Yeah, you pretty much nailed that one.
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What you're doing wrong: Staying at CVS. It is by far the worst retail pharmacy to work for
http://www.pharmacytimes.com/careers-news/express-scripts-cvs-rank-in-worst-companies-for-workers
http://www.pharmacytimes.com/careers-news/express-scripts-cvs-rank-in-worst-companies-for-workers
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Let me give you a piece of advice that will blow your mind:
Nobody gets written up for being over hours if you are doing more scripts than budgeted.
Seriously, if you are doing more scripts than budgeted every single day, every single week, every single month, and your demand hours have not caught up or for some reason do not feel like its enough, GO OVER HOURS. Do not go over 50 hours a week, but go over just enough so that you dont feel stressed and you can run a store properly. This is your license on the line. Nobody will write you up or get you in trouble, especially when you have the numbers to back it up.
Go over demand until you can get things running properly. It's all a game. Figure out how many hours you need to be comfortable. Hopefully, that is no more than 15-20 hours over demand. That's nothing. The way you play the payroll game in CVS (or any other retail company for that matter) is to go over, go over, go over, and then for a week or two go under. That throws you off the blip and the DM's cant say anything. You can even alternate weeks where one week you're over 30 hours, and the next week you save 1 hour.
It sounds crazy, but it works. Life is a game, you just have to figure out how to play it and how to play the system to get what you want.
But again, unless you turn into one of those crazy ******s who goes over 100 hours a week and then wonders why they're in trouble, you WILL NOT get in trouble for going over hours. Your DM will talk to you, call you, email you, but you won't get in trouble. Corporates stance on payroll is that obviously they want to control it so that they can save $$$, but not at the expense of getting scripts out on time and safely.
Nobody gets written up for being over hours if you are doing more scripts than budgeted.
Seriously, if you are doing more scripts than budgeted every single day, every single week, every single month, and your demand hours have not caught up or for some reason do not feel like its enough, GO OVER HOURS. Do not go over 50 hours a week, but go over just enough so that you dont feel stressed and you can run a store properly. This is your license on the line. Nobody will write you up or get you in trouble, especially when you have the numbers to back it up.
Go over demand until you can get things running properly. It's all a game. Figure out how many hours you need to be comfortable. Hopefully, that is no more than 15-20 hours over demand. That's nothing. The way you play the payroll game in CVS (or any other retail company for that matter) is to go over, go over, go over, and then for a week or two go under. That throws you off the blip and the DM's cant say anything. You can even alternate weeks where one week you're over 30 hours, and the next week you save 1 hour.
It sounds crazy, but it works. Life is a game, you just have to figure out how to play it and how to play the system to get what you want.
But again, unless you turn into one of those crazy ******s who goes over 100 hours a week and then wonders why they're in trouble, you WILL NOT get in trouble for going over hours. Your DM will talk to you, call you, email you, but you won't get in trouble. Corporates stance on payroll is that obviously they want to control it so that they can save $$$, but not at the expense of getting scripts out on time and safely.
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Quit and run as far and as fast as you possibly can from that company which shall not be named.
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It sounds like you have a great work ethic and care about doing a good job. You are not doing anything wrong. If you are a brand new pharmacist, I'm assuming you just graduated. When you first start out, it's going to take some time to become more efficient. Don't beat yourself up over it, however, you shouldn't be staying after the store closes. You will figure out a way to get everything done in the time you are paid, it just might take awhile. If you are floating and by yourself, remember that the techs will sometimes slack a little when a floater is working. I'm not saying this is true for all techs, it's just a reality. If you feel like your techs are taking advantage of you, make sure you communicate this to the pharmacy manager directly. That's really all you can do. If the techs are doing their job and you're just a little slow because you just graduated that is OK too. The most important thing is patient safety, and you need to check at your own pace. As long as you care about doing a good job everything will work out in the end.
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D0nt burn out.
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