another cvs pharmacist

[SHC1984]

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OP I see what you are saying and I can understand your frustration. When I was working at Walgreens as a tech I was warned for my high DRE % when I first started working there. My DRE (mistakes %) was at 15% to 20% when I first started there. They told me my mistakes has to be under 5% at all times. At first I was very upset about that and thought they were being mean to me etc. But then I thought about it some more and felt that they are RIGHT. I am NOT suppose to make any mistakes. We are in pharmacy and NO mistakes can be made. The attitude that, "it's just a mistake, it's no big deal" should not be in pharmacy. Yeah, I was upset that I was warned about my DRE % but I also realize that I HAVE TO CHANGE b/c high mistakes is just not acceptable in pharmacy. No mistakes are acceptable. So I changed and my DRE% went down to 1% to 2%. It's all about your attitude, I understand you feel bad, but you have to understand that you HAVE TO CHANGE. You have understand that is it require of you to NEVER make any mistakes in pharmacy. Mistakes are just not acceptable in pharmacy ever.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Is that right... so don't y'all keep track of all drug NDC# dispensed in retail? We don't in inpatient. We don't have time. 😎

No. We don't.

That being said, we just terminated a retail pharmacy manager who had CII discrepancy in a fairly large volume.

Just one time? That's pretty lame. Do you have a high definition camera in front of the narc safe and do a coat check at the end of the shift? A one-time dispensing error in which you give too many tabs out to a patient isn't worth firing unless it is a common thing.

 

[Old Timer]

It's a different world, my man. Hell, just a month ago, my pharmacy was missing #20 Oxycontin 40mg...the district pharmacy manager was notified...nothing came of it. It's not considered a significant loss, so its reported and forgotten about.

But your boss keeps a record of that for your store. If it keeps happening then LP comes in and puts some hidden cameras in to watch who is doing what.

 

[MountainPharmD]

So you are saying that your techs count c-2? In my pharmacy only pharmacist have access to the safe, which is 4 cabinets, and we carry each and every c-2 in market and we never run out of them... We get our bussiness through that. Even near by CVS send their customers to our store cause they do not carry them and what we do... we get that customer along with all other prescriptions.. We have been beating budget for atleast last 6 months by more than 200 scripts per week... We do have overlap, but that is only on monday and tuesday's for 4 hours each. Also we get the c-2 order twice a week so some days I have to put up the order, fill out the DEA 222 form and also dispense at the same time...

Yes they do. We have two C-II cabinets and stock close to 40k in medication. We are also a store that gets business from every where else because of what we keep in stock.

We have at least 4 hours and most times 6 hours of pharmacist overlap a day. I can get a c-ii order everyday day if I want but I usually do 2 a week 30 to 40 lines each.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

But your boss keeps a record of that for your store. If it keeps happening then LP comes in and puts some hidden cameras in to watch who is doing what.

Just put a camera inside that box of brand Roxicet that's been in the back of the safe. Nobody ever touches that one...we have smart pillheads in my community that enjoy the value of generic medications.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Basically your feelings got hurt because you got written up for what you perceived to be a minor infraction.

I do not know what to tell you except deal with it and move on. If you work in an at will state you could have been fired so look at the bright side!

Double count the C-IIs and count the back stock when dispensing and you will never have a problem.

 

[Rxnupe]

Basically your feelings got hurt because you got written up for what you perceived to be a minor infraction.

I do not know what to tell you except deal with it and move on. If you work in an at will state you could have been fired so look at the bright side!

Double count the C-IIs and count the back stock when dispensing and you will never have a problem.

Wow for once I agree with Mountain lol - to the OP- I am the PIC at a very busy CVS and we do a great amount of C-2's as well- and yes those counts have to be to the exact- because if the DEA or state board were to do an audit trust me it will be more than a write up. Now, one thing I have noticed when my C-2's are off are calculation errors by the Pharmacist- some totally forget to log in the C-2's or some simply miscount. I don't know what the protocol in your district is- but my Pharmacy Sup wants each month a different Pharmacist to do the inventories- so one person is not always counting the Meds. At my store the tech never counts the C-2's- it's always done by the Pharmacist.
I think a lot of people gave you good advice to follow- best of luck to you. Remember if the board or DEA did an audit and the count was off they could care less if you filled a million C-2's a week- the number has to be right.

 

[ucrx]

When I worked retail, I saw a couple of systems work. One was only pharmacists count (double count then count back) or techs/interns count (double count and count back) with the pharmacist re-counting both the bottle and inventory. This was in busy and slow stores (busy being 1000+ on Mondays). One store only let specific techs count (certified and interns I think). Anything that would mess up the inventory (broken tab, spilled liquid, etc) was logged in the narc book for a record. Inventory was conducted weekly (or bi-weekly at some stores).

I know it sucks, but if you can't quit then you can only try to figure out how to prevent it from happening again.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

When I worked retail, I saw a couple of systems work. One was only pharmacists count (double count then count back) or techs/interns count (double count and count back) with the pharmacist re-counting both the bottle and inventory. This was in busy and slow stores (busy being 1000+ on Mondays). One store only let specific techs count (certified and interns I think). Anything that would mess up the inventory (broken tab, spilled liquid, etc) was logged in the narc book for a record. Inventory was conducted weekly (or bi-weekly at some stores).

I know it sucks, but if you can't quit then you can only try to figure out how to prevent it from happening again.

Where I work ONLY pharmacists touch the CIIs. They double-count everything, and then everything in inventoried at the end of the day by the night pharmacist. Usually everything works out ok. Though whenever floaters come by, they usually forget to log half off the CIIs and I have to sit there and do drug usage reports trying to figure out why I'm short a nice round number like #30 Adderall XRs...

I must say, though, that the discipline surrounding CIIs and their dispensing is much, much tighter in hospitals than in retail.

 

[Rxnupe]

Where I work ONLY pharmacists touch the CIIs. They double-count everything, and then everything in inventoried at the end of the day by the night pharmacist. Usually everything works out ok. Though whenever floaters come by, they usually forget to log half off the CIIs and I have to sit there and do drug usage reports trying to figure out why I'm short a nice round number like #30 Adderall XRs...

I must say, though, that the discipline surrounding CIIs and their dispensing is much, much tighter in hospitals than in retail.

We were actually doing that method for years- where every C-2 that was filled during the day it got inventoried by the night Pharmacist. However, my Pharmacy Supervisor informed all the PIC's in the district that the the Board of Pharmacy actually wants them inventoried once every 30 days or as close to 30 days as possible. For example, you are not supposed to do an inventory let's say April 20th and then turn around and do an inventory let's say May 5th- even though it's technically one per month- we were told it has to be once every 30 days.

 

[Old Timer]

We were actually doing that method for years- where every C-2 that was filled during the day it got inventoried by the night Pharmacist. However, my Pharmacy Supervisor informed all the PIC's in the district that the the Board of Pharmacy actually wants them inventoried once every 30 days or as close to 30 days as possible. For example, you are not supposed to do an inventory let's say April 20th and then turn around and do an inventory let's say May 5th- even though it's technically one per month- we were told it has to be once every 30 days.

Thirty days from when? What if you are closed? Your supervisor is a complete and total *****. If they are counted every day, they are counted every thirty days....

 

[rxlea]

I bet his supervisor was an "emerging leader" as well

 

[sosoo]

i would advise purchasing a pill counter if ur store doesnt have one already. count once manually, then count again using the pill counter... this is because often times when you miscount the first, the number sticks in ur head, and u may miscount the second as well... second count using machine will save time and trouble.

 

[Old Timer]

I bet his supervisor was an "emerging leader" as well

Not really, an emerging leader is what you were before you became a supervisor. More likely he was an ******* as a pharmacist, an ******* as a PIC, an ******* as an emerging leader and an ******* as supervisor.

 

[Ackj]

Thirty days from when? What if you are closed? Your supervisor is a complete and total *****. If they are counted every day, they are counted every thirty days....

Our store does the full CII inventory the "teen" weekend of each month (ie, this weekend, as it's 14-15th). Not sure how we arrived at this standard, but apparently we've done it that way for years. Never have had a real problem though.

Running inventory is done right at the time of filling (ideally 🙄): double counted, back counted, filled in log book. Every now and then somebody forgets to log, and we have to run a usage report, but then it usually works out.

 

[Hope1974]

You on Sheridan and Flamingo? Who's ur DM Jim? Brian?

 

[Tinkerbell22]

So you are saying that your techs count c-2? In my pharmacy only pharmacist have access to the safe, which is 4 cabinets, and we carry each and every c-2 in market and we never run out of them... We get our bussiness through that. Even near by CVS send their customers to our store cause they do not carry them and what we do... we get that customer along with all other prescriptions.. We have been beating budget for atleast last 6 months by more than 200 scripts per week... We do have overlap, but that is only on monday and tuesday's for 4 hours each. Also we get the c-2 order twice a week so some days I have to put up the order, fill out the DEA 222 form and also dispense at the same time...

When I worked in FL I counted CIIs as a tech, but the pharmacist knew us very well and it was not a heavy CII location. I don't count CIIs here as an intern, but I don't blame the RPh because I wouldn't want to be responsible either. Not sure if it's a law here though... pharmacy laws seem more strict, but I still don't think it is. The places I have worked here were not as busy either.

I would have to agree with everyone else and say it is still your responsibility, but I can understand the frustration because I would not want to work at a busy CVS in Broward County either. I don't think I would want to be responsible for filling that many CIIs. Just my opinion... but I understand it's not easy to just find a new job, especially down there. That's one of the reasons I don't want to practice retail pharmacy in south Florida... I don't want to be responsible for any of that crap. lol

 

[Old Timer]

When counting the safe, it should be divided by the number of partners. Each partner counts 1/2 or 1/3 of the safe. The section you count should rotate each month or each quarter. That's the best way to avoid a problem.

 

[myhandsarecold]

dang, i can't believe you need a PharmD to freaking count pills.

 

[Old Timer]

dang, i can't believe you need a PharmD to freaking count pills.

Do you really want to go there?

 

[rxlea]

No, let's not go there.