600 scripts a day / 1 rph

[VeeSee]

Retail is a complete ****ing joke

Only an imbecile would endure maltreatment from these sh1thole chains

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[PharmDBro2017]

Except in a high volume store you'll likely have a constant line in pickup/drive through and a tech filling with just yourself as the pharmacist and because it's high volume the phones ring off the hook and it's really up to you and the filling tech (who probably isn't going to stop counting to get the phone) to answer them (and thus stop what you're doing to put in a refill or tell someone about an obscure OTC product you've never heard about). My biggest annoyance is having to deal with time-wasting phone calls or being told "Someone on hold requests to speak to the pharmacist" only to be asked to "refill fill everything on my profile." I think all pharmacies would be massively more productive if each one staffed a "miscellaneous tech" who's sole job was to answer all phone calls, deal with insurance rejections, and the busy work that causes massive slow downs.

My blood pressure increased from reading this post and having flashbacks of interning at retail for the past few years.... phew

 

[BidingMyTime]

He billin Tricare for creams and ointments...

He be making license plates and answering support service phones now.

 

[MountainPharmD]

He billin Tricare for creams and ointments...

Not me! No compounding here outside of the occasional Magic Butt Paste, Happy Hiney or Flagyl suspension.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Did you pay yourself in the beginning when business is slow?

I purchased two pharmacies in a little town and merged them together. I had a good sized patient base to start with.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Not me! No compounding here outside of the occasional Magic Butt Paste, Happy Hiney or Flagyl suspension.

Happy Hiney? This is the first time I've heard of that. Does it work better than Magic Butt Paste?

 

[VA77]

Think about all those hours in undergrad, studying for PCAT, hopefully your interviews go well, studying you ass off in school and for NAPLEX, and paying student loans. No employer is going to jeopardize the safety of the patients Im filling for. Screw them

 

[Sparda29]

I purchased two pharmacies in a little town and merged them together. I had a good sized patient base to start with.

Is it possible to fund this with just a loan from the bank? Or do you need some capital of your own saved up?

 

[VA77]

I started the thread in January when i filled over 600 scripts on a Tuesday. I thought that will never happen again. However, On Tuesday i broke previous record when i filled over 650 scripts. it was my worst day in retail.

Worst day I retail was today. 743 scripts. At one point verify 1 every 20 seconds. I don't feel safe with those numbers so they got the 2 week notice.

 

[Sine Cura]

You must have had some hard-working techs to crank out 743 in 13-14 hours? And/or work waaay off the clock

 

[MrBonita]

I use to work at a grocery store pharmacy. I did roughly 150 to 200 during 10am to 6pm on saturday. I would start at 9am off the clock to 10am for free to get all the refills that sat in the queue that needed to be filled. After work I stayed an additional 1 hour for free to replenish the vials, count the register, audit all the rx hard copies and order drugs that ran out. I never took lunches or breaks and had no techs. If that number ever go to 600, that would send me to the cemetery.

 

[VA77]

You must have had some hard-working techs to crank out 743 in 13-14 hours? And/or work waaay off the clock

Very hard working techs. 4 of them of them to be precise throughout the day and they did 90% of that count in 9 hours. They deserve better.

 

[hick2672]

I got out of CVS and it was the best decision ever! Get out while you are still breathing!


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[6GodPharm]

I use to work at a grocery store pharmacy. I did roughly 150 to 200 during 10am to 6pm on saturday. I would start at 9am off the clock to 10am for free to get all the refills that sat in the queue that needed to be filled. After work I stayed an additional 1 hour for free to replenish the vials, count the register, audit all the rx hard copies and order drugs that ran out. I never took lunches or breaks and had no techs. If that number ever go to 600, that would send me to the cemetery.

This is highly inefficient. Please don't ever leave your job for a real chain. You might never go home.

 

[MountainPharmD]

I put in 32k of my own money and funded the rest through a bank loan. This was early 2014. Pharmacy lending has tightened up quite a bit since then.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Happy Hiney? This is the first time I've heard of that. Does it work better than Magic Butt Paste?

I usually make this once every three months. Since I posted this comment I've made it 6 times! What we call Happy Hiney is equal parts Zinc Oxide ointment, Nystatin cream and Hydrocortisone 1% cream. It works wonders on those yeasty, red, nearly bleeding diaper rashes. The next best thing and something I used to make for my kids is Magic Butt Paste which is cholestyramine in aquaphor.

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

I usually make this once every three months. Since I posted this comment I've made it 6 times! What we call Happy Hiney is equal parts Zinc Oxide ointment, Nystatin cream and Hydrocortisone 1% cream. It works wonders on those yeasty, red, nearly bleeding diaper rashes. The next best thing and something I used to make for my kids is Magic Butt Paste which is cholestyramine in aquaphor.

Happy Hiney in my neck of the woods is 1:1:1 Benzoin Tincture, Mineral Oil, and Zinc Oxide.

Disclaimer: don't take the following as a criticism because it's my personal opinion and not a judgement of you or your pharmacy
I typically call prescibers who try to put hydrocortisone in butt compounds and talk them out of it if the patient's under 6 mo.

 

[Lnsean]

Worst day I retail was today. 743 scripts. At one point verify 1 every 20 seconds. I don't feel safe with those numbers so they got the 2 week notice.

Jesus christ man...what are you a human scanner?

 

[VA77]

Jesus christ man...what are you a human scanner?

I wish I could say that there was some super human talent that I possessed but that's far from the case. Bottom line is NOBODY can do that volume and pretend that they are doing DUR's, counseling, and even 100% verification for PMP's. It's a recipe for disaster and I have a hard enough time sleeping without thinking did I endanger somebody's life today just because the owner wants speed. I gave 2 weeks notice and wrapping things up this week. Good luck to them cause I feel the only way that somebody isn't going to eventually get hurt will be dumb luck or God's grace.

 

[MrBonita]

This is highly inefficient. Please don't ever leave your job for a real chain. You might never go home.

I must be getting old as the norm when I did retail was 200 per 8 hours with no techs or help. In order to get a tech assigned to your store you had to do 300 plus for an 8 hour store. What is the norm these days for a 8 hour shift with no techs and working alone?

 

[trailerpark]

How the heck can you work alone? Who's checking out customers when you're stuck on the phone for 10 minutes? What happens when in store scripts need to be filled but multiple phone lines are ringing, there's someone waiting to drop off and multiple people are picking up and of course they want you to run discount cards and edit the order last minute?


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[MrBonita]

How the heck can you work alone? Who's checking out customers when you're stuck on the phone for 10 minutes? What happens when in store scripts need to be filled but multiple phone lines are ringing, there's someone waiting to drop off and multiple people are picking up and of course they want you to run discount cards and edit the order last minute?


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To be able to type up 200 scripts, fill them and sell them I had to have my game on. I always closed the check in window as I could only be in one place. Have only one line and check in and ring up in that one line. I would ring up and type rx at the same time. While a person is paying and their credit card is processing I have a few seconds to run and fill the rx. I am on the phone will typing or ringing up. The alt tab key is my favorite as I have to alt tab between several open software applications so that I can type and use another copy to answer the phone with. I still cannot believe some guy was able to do 650 a day. So what is the norm as 200 was the norm when I worked and it was exhausting.

 

[Lnsean]

I must be getting old as the norm when I did retail was 200 per 8 hours with no techs or help. In order to get a tech assigned to your store you had to do 300 plus for an 8 hour store. What is the norm these days for a 8 hour shift with no techs and working alone?

Dude you're not old. 200 by yourself is alot especially with drive-thru--front registers---phones---immunizations. I did 150 one time by myself and that was a nightmare. Every time you go to fill, a customer shows up or the phone rings or a car drives up.

 

[supharma]

I wish I could say that there was some super human talent that I possessed but that's far from the case. Bottom line is NOBODY can do that volume and pretend that they are doing DUR's, counseling, and even 100% verification for PMP's. It's a recipe for disaster and I have a hard enough time sleeping without thinking did I endanger somebody's life today just because the owner wants speed. I gave 2 weeks notice and wrapping things up this week. Good luck to them cause I feel the only way that somebody isn't going to eventually get hurt will be dumb luck or God's grace.

I was in you same shoe 3 weeks back,I was working for big red 3 letter chain,I resigned and please you feel miserable for 2 weeks as you are loosing big pay check,remember nothing important than your life and patient life,You took good decision,I was breathless and had night mare in middle of so many nights thinking about patient safety as my store lost so many techs,few days I am all by myself I got freaked out, worked with fear,please get out of the toxic environment nothing is more important than your license.
Good luck.

 

[VA77]

I was in you same shoe 3 weeks back,I was working for big red 3 letter chain,I resigned and please you feel miserable for 2 weeks as you are loosing big pay check,remember nothing important than your life and patient life,You took good decision,I was breathless and had night mare in middle of so many nights thinking about patient safety as my store lost so many techs,few days I am all by myself I got freaked out, worked with fear,please get out of the toxic environment nothing is more important than your license.
Good luck.

Don't worry Supharm. A lot of us are in the same boat. I know we are in the middle of job saturation and its hard enough to land a job with a clean record much less if you have a BOP mark against it and you have to explain how it happened. Sometimes I think the retail companies want you to get written up for a mistake so you have no where else to go. If all these new grads go into these situations without proper training and adequate staffing levels then SOMETHING will happen and the worse part is not that they have something happen to their license but they could hurt someone. A clean conscience and your health are the two most valuable things you get in life because they cannot be replaced nor bought. I was lucky to save enough money to go full throttle now into job looking mode without trying to balance call backs to employers in the middle of those hectic days.

To the poster about being old and doing 200 without any help is possible if your doing 25/hr but I've never seen a pharmacy where all the scripts come in evenly. I compare it to the ocean. Some waves come in gently and then they go back out and then sometimes a freaking tsumani comes in and drowns you. Metrics I think were invented by someone who needed to study calculus and integrals and derivatives to understand that averages do not account for sudden acceleration in a moment of time. But hey, an MBA doesn't care about that stuff right?lol

 

[VA77]

Dude you're not old. 200 by yourself is alot especially with drive-thru--front registers---phones---immunizations. I did 150 one time by myself and that was a nightmare. Every time you go to fill, a customer shows up or the phone rings or a car drives up.

Is your immunization area setup behind the counter or do you have a private room or waiting room that you do them in? I would be a little nervous if I didn't see at least someone behind the counter. First, a patient is going to thing where is everybody and second, well there are a lot of reasons no that I think about it. I also don't see closing the gate being practical if you do have a private room.
I had a similar thing happen when I was by myself and put orange cones out in the drive thru and luckily I know enough about IT to busy out some of the incoming lines except the IVR. Didn't want to do it but when your put into a bad situation you have to control it as much as possible.

 

[Lnsean]

Is your immunization area setup behind the counter or do you have a private room or waiting room that you do them in? I would be a little nervous if I didn't see at least someone behind the counter. First, a patient is going to thing where is everybody and second, well there are a lot of reasons no that I think about it. I also don't see closing the gate being practical if you do have a private room.
I had a similar thing happen when I was by myself and put orange cones out in the drive thru and luckily I know enough about IT to busy out some of the incoming lines except the IVR. Didn't want to do it but when your put into a bad situation you have to control it as much as possible.

No private room..it's literally right there in the waiting area with just a small divider.

 

[MrBonita]

Dude you're not old. 200 by yourself is alot especially with drive-thru--front registers---phones---immunizations. I did 150 one time by myself and that was a nightmare. Every time you go to fill, a customer shows up or the phone rings or a car drives up.

Thanks for the information. When I worked at the grocery store pharmacy it did not have a drive thru so that helped. If it got to busy I would just tell customers we are out of the vaccine at this time, call back later or go the pharmacies next door. We had a Rite Aid next door, a CVS and walgreens on the other corners.