Any advise on how to become an EXCELLENT Walgreen's Pharmacy Tech...

[SHC1984]

I have been a Walgreen's pharmacy tech since 12/03/08. I was part-time for the first month and now I am full-time. I really like the job for the most part...it can get stressful at times but for the most part I like it. A tech at my pharmacy (she has been with Walgreens for 32 years!!! She has been a tech for ~5 years) has just gotten FIRED a week ago b/c her DRE's were too high...and today I just got a lecture on DRE's myself...(DRE=% of mistakes) My DRE's run anywhere from 4%-20%...4% on my best days and 20% on my worst days...overall I am average at ~14% DRE....They told me since I am new they want me at around 9% (ideally its 3%) I am not a careless or lazy person...but sometimes its SOOOO HARD for me to concentrate when its busy...I work at a store that fills 150-250 scripts a day and its ONLY ME and the pharmacist! (if you work as a tech you should know hard/stressful this can be!) So I have to multi-task ALOT and I make more mistakes when I am typing in scripts while customers come up and bother me or when the doctor's handwriting is soooo terrible that I have to guess at what they are saying!!! I am not trying to mess up on purpose, but its so hard for me and if I don't get my DRE's down I am afraid that they will fired me too... The store manager likes me a lot but even he told me today that I have got to improve...so I feel awful...I don't know what to do...its just sooooo hard to concentrate when there are soooo many people coming up to you to ask you questions and the telephone ringing/drive-thru/filing AND the doctors handwriting being SLOPPLY as hell!

Anyone here have the same problems? Anyone a perfect tech and can suggest something I can do to improve?? I guess I can always ask more questions but I don't want to annoyed my pharmacist either! (I hate being annoyed so I am sure the pharmacist won't care for it either...) any ideas? please share....thank you!

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[ucfphi330]

Hey I am a Sr. Tech and have been with the W for 5 years. Does your store not have POWER?...if not, well in the future for you POWER will type the Rx's. The best thing to do is to always remain calm and tell the next person to just give you a second, it is only u and the pharmacist..just be honest and the customer will understand, if they dont well though ****. Before you type something ask the pharmacist what it is if you dont know, and always ask questions. The only way people will find you annohying is if you keep making the same mistakes and keep asking the same questions. Hope that helps.

 

[cinneberry]

it sounds to me like you already know that you should be asking more questions. having to constantly fix mistakes is way more annoying than answering questions. any pharmacist should be happy to answer questions because it is their job to interpret prescriptions, not a tech's, and their butt is on the line when mistakes are made.

i also wanted to add, and please don't take offense to this because i say it with the best of intentions (and i also know nothing about you other than what you've written here), i think you should really ask yourself if pharmacy is the job for you. i have yet to find a store that is less crazy than the one your describing. pharmacy is a high stress career and if it's not something you can shrug off, you might want to reconsider.

good luck though- i am not a fan of walgreen's and it bugs me that they are micromanaging people like that.

 

[Sparda29]

WTF? Walgreens actually does that. So much for me leaving CVS for Walgreens. Not that I make many errors, it's just the fact that they will fire you. All the errors that I've made in my career have been caught by the pharmacist.

Now, is that grading for the amount of times its caught by the pharmacist, or by the amount of times the error hits the patient?

 

[luckyphooey]

So glad CVS doesn't do this whole DRE thing...that's terrible. I would so have been fired sooooo long ago.

 

[dinoant]

So glad CVS doesn't do this whole DRE thing...that's terrible. I would so have been fired sooooo long ago.

Cvs does do the Extra care scan rate and stuff : /

 

[Sparda29]

Cvs does do the Extra care scan rate and stuff : /

Yeah, but that is more of a bull**** kinda thing, and for the most part they don't get on your case, I've been below 20% on the extracare scan rate during my time there and they haven't said much. I usually only have 20-30 transactions/8 hour shift since I rarely leave the drop-off/production area.

 

[SHC1984]

it sounds to me like you already know that you should be asking more questions. having to constantly fix mistakes is way more annoying than answering questions. any pharmacist should be happy to answer questions because it is their job to interpret prescriptions, not a tech's, and their butt is on the line when mistakes are made.

i also wanted to add, and please don't take offense to this because i say it with the best of intentions (and i also know nothing about you other than what you've written here), i think you should really ask yourself if pharmacy is the job for you. i have yet to find a store that is less crazy than the one your describing. pharmacy is a high stress career and if it's not something you can shrug off, you might want to reconsider.

good luck though- i am not a fan of walgreen's and it bugs me that they are micromanaging people like that.

thank you for your opinion. I am still not 100% sure that retail pharmacy is what I want...I am still debating and not sure what I want to do.

As for store crazyness....I have heard from a few people that busy stores are actually less stressful than slow stores....Although I have NEVER worked at a busy store I know they have MORE techs working and therefore everyone just does ONE THING...ex. one person fills the entire day...one person only types scripts...one person at drive thru etc...I am hoping that that will help me out a bit...b/c whats really messing me up is when I am trying to type and someone comes up and bugs me with a million questions! But you are right I am not 100% sure that this is what I want yet.

 

[SHC1984]

Hey I am a Sr. Tech and have been with the W for 5 years. Does your store not have POWER?...if not, well in the future for you POWER will type the Rx's. The best thing to do is to always remain calm and tell the next person to just give you a second, it is only u and the pharmacist..just be honest and the customer will understand, if they dont well though ****. Before you type something ask the pharmacist what it is if you dont know, and always ask questions. The only way people will find you annohying is if you keep making the same mistakes and keep asking the same questions. Hope that helps.

I am in North Carolina so NO we don't have power. I think thats only in Florida...Although that sounds great, won't Walgreens eventually fired you and the pharmacist since you guys essentially have nothing to do all day?

If I ask questions then it will be similar questions everytime b/c it will always be "what is this doctor writing??" LOL... how do you read their handwritings???

 

[SHC1984]

WTF? Walgreens actually does that. So much for me leaving CVS for Walgreens. Not that I make many errors, it's just the fact that they will fire you. All the errors that I've made in my career have been caught by the pharmacist.

Now, is that grading for the amount of times its caught by the pharmacist, or by the amount of times the error hits the patient?

The grading is the amount of times caught by the pharmacist. All my mistakes have been caught by the pharmacist and I have never sent anything wrong to the patients.. THANK GOD. But Walgreens prefer their techs to be at 3%-5% error...anything above 10% is NOT acceptable...They were not mean to me about it but they were serious in that I need to improve. I am so scared b/c I don't want to get fired! MOST of my mistakes is due to SLOPPY doctor's handwritings! I hate guessing at what the hell they are trying to say!

SERIOUSLY HOW DO YOU GUYS READ THAT CRAP? LOL

CVS doesn't look at your mistakes???? Maybe I should look into working for them! I really want Target but its damn near impossible to get a job there!

Overall do you like CVS or Walgreens better????

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

The grading is the amount of times caught by the pharmacist. All my mistakes have been caught by the pharmacist and I have never sent anything wrong to the patients.. THANK GOD. But Walgreens prefer their techs to be at 3%-5% error...anything above 10% is NOT acceptable...They were not mean to me about it but they were serious in that I need to improve. I am so scared b/c I don't want to get fired! MOST of my mistakes is due to SLOPPY doctor's handwritings! I hate guessing at what the hell they are trying to say!

SERIOUSLY HOW DO YOU GUYS READ THAT CRAP? LOL

You get used to a doctors handing writing as a pharmacy technician because there are probably only so many doctor in an area. After a while, its the same prescriptions for the same RX.

By the time you are a pharmacist, you would know the drugs, their usual dosage, indications, etc. It would be a lot easier then because not only do you have experience, but you can decipher drugs based on what you know.

 

[thephoenician88]

The grading is the amount of times caught by the pharmacist. All my mistakes have been caught by the pharmacist and I have never sent anything wrong to the patients.. THANK GOD. But Walgreens prefer their techs to be at 3%-5% error...anything above 10% is NOT acceptable...They were not mean to me about it but they were serious in that I need to improve. I am so scared b/c I don't want to get fired! MOST of my mistakes is due to SLOPPY doctor's handwritings! I hate guessing at what the hell they are trying to say!

SERIOUSLY HOW DO YOU GUYS READ THAT CRAP? LOL

CVS doesn't look at your mistakes???? Maybe I should look into working for them! I really want Target but its damn near impossible to get a job there!

Overall do you like CVS or Walgreens better????

the main reason to get dre's is for typing something in wrong, not reading it wrong from the script. So what i mean is, if you can't tell the difference between amoxil or augmentin that the doc wrote, ask the pharmacist, don't wait for a dre.

another thing i like to do is look over everything real quick (5 secs) check date/drug/sigs after i've typed it

usually when i get a high percentage it's because i didn't put a space between the q in the q4 to 6 and that messes up the sig. I usually don't make any huge errors.

sometimes i do is get high percentages, but only because the i made 1 mistake that night, but only entered 20 (i sell more than type at night) and that's already 5%, so there are a lot of factors into play , but i feel double checking, regardless of business, always helps.

what i do is just push wait times, i push wait time as needed, idc if it's 1 hour wait, i'm not going to do something really fast and have it be wrong at the same time.

 

[krystal2812]

the main reason to get dre's is for typing something in wrong, not reading it wrong from the script. So what i mean is, if you can't tell the difference between amoxil or augmentin that the doc wrote, ask the pharmacist, don't wait for a dre.

another thing i like to do is look over everything real quick (5 secs) check date/drug/sigs after i've typed it

usually when i get a high percentage it's because i didn't put a space between the q in the q4 to 6 and that messes up the sig. I usually don't make any huge errors.

sometimes i do is get high percentages, but only because the i made 1 mistake that night, but only entered 20 (i sell more than type at night) and that's already 5%, so there are a lot of factors into play , but i feel double checking, regardless of business, always helps.

what i do is just push wait times, i push wait time as needed, idc if it's 1 hour wait, i'm not going to do something really fast and have it be wrong at the same time.

They allow you to push the wait times up to 1 hr? In my store, the max is 45 but I rarely say that because every time I say 45, the pts looks me terrible, even w/ 30 min. omg. So stressful. Pts only think why it takes up to 30 min to type and put the medication in the bottle. But typing and counting, answering the phone, cashiering, ... will take more than 20 min.

 

[thephoenician88]

They allow you to push the wait times up to 1 hr? In my store, the max is 45 but I rarely say that because every time I say 45, the pts looks me terrible, even w/ 30 min. omg. So stressful. Pts only think why it takes up to 30 min to type and put the medication in the bottle. But typing and counting, answering the phone, cashiering, ... will take more than 20 min.

it usually only gets that way when the pharmacist is behind, and that's when it's ok. it's only 1 hour wait for a short period, until we get caught up.

i'm the one taking the heat for saying 1 hour though, so no harm in that

i'm a little bias to the regulars though "wait time is 1 hour...but for you, 30 mins "

i let them know, i say there are several people ahead of you, can't do 20 mins right now.

 

[Scikotic]

I have been a Walgreen's pharmacy tech since 12/03/08. I was part-time for the first month and now I am full-time. I really like the job for the most part...it can get stressful at times but for the most part I like it. A tech at my pharmacy (she has been with Walgreens for 32 years!!! She has been a tech for ~5 years) has just gotten FIRED a week ago b/c her DRE's were too high...and today I just got a lecture on DRE's myself..
Anyone here have the same problems? Anyone a perfect tech and can suggest something I can do to improve?? I guess I can always ask more questions but I don't want to annoyed my pharmacist either! (I hate being annoyed so I am sure the pharmacist won't care for it either...) any ideas? please share....thank you!

I understand your frustrations, the real problem is that there aren't enough people to work! There simply isn't enough hands to work the required hours. At least at my store, we just fired someone recently for suspicious behavior, and now we are very short-handed (perrrrfect for the busy winter season ). What really annoys me about Walgreen's is that they don't find help - their solution to the problem was to close the in-window .

Nothing is ever done, and I always end up picking up all the slack. I have repeatedly offered to stay longer hours to complete the required pharmacy duties, but was told they could not afford to pay anyone overtime. Sooo, we just keep getting customer complaints piling up, along with aggressive, heretical, dissident customers who throw things and curse, last week a man exclaimed that he was going to blow his brains all over the f***ing floor if we didn't fill his Lexapro...

I don't blame the customers, they have every right to be mad, they aren't getting the quality healthcare and compassion that they deserve. I just can't wait till I'm a pharmacist and have more of a say in the way things are managed and executed in the pharmacy. Pharmacists need to help the technicians more instead of just standing in front of the computer..

As far as some tips for being a better tech:

Double check all typed scripts (pretend you are the pharmacist and say to yourself, "would I send this out and risk my license?") - and if you are stuck, ask ask ask - Also realize that you can call the doctor, patient, or hospital yourself (if necessary and time permitting) and ask them what the heck they wrote. If the patient is in the store, I sometimes ask who their doctor was if the signature looks like a hieroglyphic. The in-store intercom can be your friend

Be smart, focused, and hard-working, if you get lazy you will just have it harder later.

Take care of things then and there, don't "put it off for later"

Personally I'm thinking of switching companies, but I sometimes like the stressful environment, makes the day go by quick! And I feel accomplished at the end of the day...

Another option: transfer to another store, with more techs?

 

[Storm90]

Since you are pre-pharm and aspiring to be a pharmacist, why not act and work as you would when you become a pharmacist? Lately my work has been sub-par and a pharmacist suggested that I start working as if I was already a pharmacist and that no one would be checking my work. Since then, I've been error-free, but it's certainly been a challenge. I've had to slow down (a lot) and I double check everything, but it's effective.

 

[Sparda29]

Try not to guess on stuff, if you don't know it or can't read it, call the MD.

Office is not open, call their emergency line. Over time, we have seen some MD's handwriting improve or the MD switches to typing probably because of us calling their personal phones for clarification.

 

[parabolic]

MOST of my mistakes is due to SLOPPY doctor's handwritings! I hate guessing at what the hell they are trying to say!

SERIOUSLY HOW DO YOU GUYS READ THAT CRAP? LOL

Never guess. You may not want to bother the pharmacist, especially when it is busy, but if you make a guess and it's wrong, imagine what happens if that one time the pharmacist misses it?

And it happens, especially with the power of suggestion brought about by you typing something onto the label. Awhile back I saw a mistake that went out to the patient, who had to be called at home and warned to not take the medication they got. It was because the two medications (what was written for on the script, and what had been dispensed) both started with the same four letters. The pharmacist saw the script, saw what the tech had typed, and figured it was correct. Close call, but in the end no one was harmed.

Pharmacists are people too, you know. They are capable of making mistakes. So if you can't read something, bring it to their attention! It will make your pharmacist look at the script twice if nothing else.

BE CAREFUL. You're dealing with people's health here!

Okay, off the soapbox. There's no good way that I've found to deal with being the lone tech in a busy store, especially with all the running around. The best days I've had, the pharmacist printed out the entire list as soon as the pharmacy opened so that I could fill, basically uninterrupted, until the waves of people started coming one to two hours later. It made the rest of the day go by more smoothly, being able to take care of just the waiters instead of rushing to do a refill that had been called in the night before.

Another tip is to study up on drugs. If you are familiar with drug names, you're less likely to be confused about what a doctor has written for.

Make good use of your sig shortcuts. They will save you lots of errors just by themselves.

Patient at the window or drive-thru? If you are typing, finish the script before going to the patient. If you are counting, finish counting before you assist the patient. Tell them "I'll be with you in just a few minutes," just don't lose your place and make a mistake.

Anyway, good luck! The first few months are the hardest.

 

[SHC1984]

the main reason to get dre's is for typing something in wrong, not reading it wrong from the script. So what i mean is, if you can't tell the difference between amoxil or augmentin that the doc wrote, ask the pharmacist, don't wait for a dre.

another thing i like to do is look over everything real quick (5 secs) check date/drug/sigs after i've typed it

usually when i get a high percentage it's because i didn't put a space between the q in the q4 to 6 and that messes up the sig. I usually don't make any huge errors.

sometimes i do is get high percentages, but only because the i made 1 mistake that night, but only entered 20 (i sell more than type at night) and that's already 5%, so there are a lot of factors into play , but i feel double checking, regardless of business, always helps.

what i do is just push wait times, i push wait time as needed, idc if it's 1 hour wait, i'm not going to do something really fast and have it be wrong at the same time.

The medications that I mess up on the most would be:
1) albuterol (I am okay with Proair, but any other form of albuterol I have NO clue!)
2) any kind of insulin or pens ( don't know the day supply and don't know how to type up the directions for it!)
3) anything that you insert vaginally or rectally...LOL...
4) creams, ointments, drops (b/c I am bad at calculating day supply for these...unlike Pills which are easy to calculate! And sometimes the pharmacists want me to write apply to affected area and sometimes they do NOT which is very confusing! )
5) Liquids...(when it is busy and the liquid is not commonly used...the day supply is hard for me to calculate at times.)


I don't mess up the medication, but I do mess up on day supply and directions.

My favorite is Lortab or any kind of pain killers b/c they are always tk 1 to 2 ts po q 4 to 6 h prn p. I think I like that the most!

 

[SHC1984]

What I can do is push back the wait time...but I know Walgreens hate that too b/c their goal is to get everyone to wait for their medications that way they can decrease the amount of deletes they have! Which makes sense b/c customers are less likely to come back to pick up their meds and therefore increase in deletes...but if pushback wait time = less DREs then I am going to do that.

 

[phillypharm09]

i've been with wags for 3 years now as a pharm intern. i work at a store that does on average 700 rx's per day and when busy 1000+. the main thing to work on is to know the most common drugs so u can recognize the names and then get ur abbreviations down pact. i typically have a dre rate of 1% or less. u can look at ur stats in storenet to see where u get DRE-ed the most, so u can figure out what u need to work on. when i used to work the full 40, i was responsible for 1200 of the prescriptions being typed (u can check in storenet) with an error rate of (on average) about 10 per week. it's really jsut finding out what u get DRE-ed on the most and trying to figure out why it is that way. the biggest improvement though is to just chug along and keep typing up scripts. the more u see them, the easier it will be and ur accuracy will increase dramatically.

 

[jyw003]

i just saw that you avg 700 scripts...hollyyy molly haha...where are you located?

 

[thephoenician88]

The medications that I mess up on the most would be:
1) albuterol (I am okay with Proair, but any other form of albuterol I have NO clue!)
2) any kind of insulin or pens ( don't know the day supply and don't know how to type up the directions for it!)
3) anything that you insert vaginally or rectally...LOL...
4) creams, ointments, drops (b/c I am bad at calculating day supply for these...unlike Pills which are easy to calculate! And sometimes the pharmacists want me to write apply to affected area and sometimes they do NOT which is very confusing! )
5) Liquids...(when it is busy and the liquid is not commonly used...the day supply is hard for me to calculate at times.)


I don't mess up the medication, but I do mess up on day supply and directions.

hey these are really easy
1) for the most part, albuterol hfa is proair, otherwise it might be the nebulizer vials
2)pens are just like the vials, except they're not using syringes. Just think---units---so 100units per ml, 10 mls in each vial or 5 mls per pen, and they use 22 units a day. so 100 x 5 ml/22=day supply
3)these take some time, i just use sig code ivb (i think that's it)
4)you can't really calculate creams, especially when it says affected area, if it's a small area and they're getting 30g tube and use it bid, i say 15 days.
5)liquids 30mls in 1 oz tk 1 tea po qhs.....5 ml per day, if rx is 120ml do 120/5, easy.

What I can do is push back the wait time...but I know Walgreens hate that too b/c their goal is to get everyone to wait for their medications that way they can decrease the amount of deletes they have! Which makes sense b/c customers are less likely to come back to pick up their meds and therefore increase in deletes...but if pushback wait time = less DREs then I am going to do that.

yea but waiting isn't always going to be 15 mins

i've been with wags for 3 years now as a pharm intern. i work at a store that does on average 700 rx's per day and when busy 1000+. the main thing to work on is to know the most common drugs so u can recognize the names and then get ur abbreviations down pact. i typically have a dre rate of 1% or less. u can look at ur stats in storenet to see where u get DRE-ed the most, so u can figure out what u need to work on. when i used to work the full 40, i was responsible for 1200 of the prescriptions being typed (u can check in storenet) with an error rate of (on average) about 10 per week. it's really jsut finding out what u get DRE-ed on the most and trying to figure out why it is that way. the biggest improvement though is to just chug along and keep typing up scripts. the more u see them, the easier it will be and ur accuracy will increase dramatically.

that's awesome. My goal right now is 0-3%...i've had 0 for a few days now though. yay! haha

 

[Transformer]

Regarding Albuterol HFA, Pro Air is generally the preferred item.

Although, our hospital pharmacies have in the past used albuterol sulfate HFA, Proventil HFA, Ventolin HFA,
and Xopenex HFA (levalbuterol).

I believe albuterol sulfate HFA is discontinued now, and I'm not sure about Ventolin HFA (we rarely order this product)

So for the (chlorofluorocarbon [CFC]-free) Albuterol HFA inhalers, remember the 3 common brands:

1) Pro Air HFA
2) Proventil HFA
3) Ventolin HFA


Select accordingly (pending what the prescriber wants and what brand the patient's prescription insurance would cover)

hope this helps a little

 

[phillypharm09]

the 700/day was when i was working at 2999 in sunrise, i decided that i'd like to be able to spend time with patients more so i now work in deerfield.

as for the albuterol discussion:

i just want to make sure we all know u can't interchange albuterol hfa (proair, ventolin hfa, proventil hfa) for xopenex hfa since they r different drugs.

ventolin hfa is still available, we stock it where i work (along with proair hfa and proventil hfa which r the faster movers)

 

[Transformer]

the 700/day was when i was working at 2999 in sunrise, i decided that i'd like to be able to spend time with patients more so i now work in deerfield.

as for the albuterol discussion:

i just want to make sure we all know u can interchange albuterol hfa (proair, ventolin, proventil) for xopenex since they r different drugs.

ventolin hfa is still available, we stock it where i work (along with proair and proventil which r the faster movers)

Yep, I think you mean to say Xopenex HFA, levalbuterol is not interchangeable with Albuterol HFA.

 

[phillypharm09]

Yep, I think you mean to say Xopenex HFA, levalbuterol is not interchangeable with Albuterol HFA.

edited my post.

u CANNOT interchange any form of albuterol with any form of xopenex without auth from the physician.

if interchange by the physician, xopenex is given at half the strength of the albuterol (for nebulizer solutions)

if an md writes for albuterol hfa, u cannot dispense xopenex hfa unless they ok it

 

[SHC1984]

hey these are really easy
1) for the most part, albuterol hfa is proair, otherwise it might be the nebulizer vials
2)pens are just like the vials, except they're not using syringes. Just think---units---so 100units per ml, 10 mls in each vial or 5 mls per pen, and they use 22 units a day. so 100 x 5 ml/22=day supply
3)these take some time, i just use sig code ivb (i think that's it)
4)you can't really calculate creams, especially when it says affected area, if it's a small area and they're getting 30g tube and use it bid, i say 15 days.
5)liquids 30mls in 1 oz tk 1 tea po qhs.....5 ml per day, if rx is 120ml do 120/5, easy.


yea but waiting isn't always going to be 15 mins


that's awesome. My goal right now is 0-3%...i've had 0 for a few days now though. yay! haha

Proair is inhale 2 puffs (bid,tid, or qid depends on DR) prn for wheezing...What is the day supply?

I usually have trouble with the nebulizers!!! Okay so there is 1000 units in each vial and 500 units in each pen??? and you just divide by how many they use a day?

 

[phillypharm09]

Proair is inhale 2 puffs (bid,tid, or qid depends on DR) prn for wheezing...What is the day supply?

I usually have trouble with the nebulizers!!! Okay so there is 1000 units in each vial and 500 units in each pen??? and you just divide by how many they use a day?

for proair (and ventolin, proventil) they each have 200 metered doses. so if it's used 2 puffs QID then the days supply is 12 (200/8).

for vials, it's just how many times it's used per day. example:

u get a script for albuterol neb #25

if the sig is use tid

it's just 25/3 for the days supply.

it doesn't matter the mg or w/e for neb solutions, cuz one vial is inhaled completely for every use, u don't split vials.

for insulin vials, a 10mL vial of U100 has 1000 units

if a patient is injecting 10 units BID, then it's 1000/20=50 days.

HOWEVER, with certain insulins, ie lantus, it's only good for 28 days. so if u get an rx for lantus 10 units QHS, even tho technically it should last for 100 days, u have to put 28.

just divide how many units (1000 per vial) by the number of units used per day.

 

[krystal2812]

Thank you for all your contribution to this thread. I learned some from this thread. I'm a new tech, too. So I have some questions. For the eye drops, do we need always calculate 1 ml = 20 drops? For the cream, when do we need to say " Apply to affected area(s)", when " Apply" only. For nebulizer, is it right to say " use 1 vial via nebulizer one a day". For inhalation, besides, wheezing, is there any other words MD usually use because I have trouble in reading MD hand-written too. When the store is too busy, the pharmacist is helping customers, it's hard for me to ask but if I don't ask I may make mistakes because of guessing.

Thanks in advance.

 

[phillypharm09]

I'd post more but have to get back to work.

General rule. Solution 20 drops per ml. Suspensions 15 per ml.

Inhale one vial via nebulizer once daily is what I'd write.

 

[BearDown]

Do your pharmacists actually care about days supply on drops? I always put the standard 7-10 day supply for any eye or ear drop and usually 15 day supply for cream. I never realized how lucky I have it.

 

[krystal2812]

I think they do care about EDS. They encourage me to ask when I don't know but when the store is too busy, the pharmacist is with customers, and other customers are waiting me to finish their Rx, I'm really stressed out, don't know what to do. Any general rule about all forms of medication except tables or capsules. I'm ok with that. It's easy to calculate day supply for tabs.

 

[ucfphi330]

I am in North Carolina so NO we don't have power. I think thats only in Florida...Although that sounds great, won't Walgreens eventually fired you and the pharmacist since you guys essentially have nothing to do all day?

If I ask questions then it will be similar questions everytime b/c it will always be "what is this doctor writing??" LOL... how do you read their handwritings???

LOL think about what you just said, the answer is NO. They still need pharmacist to actually legally fill the med at the retail location and they will still need a tech to check in meds, do the paperwork, and other miscellaneous stuff. Yes, they are firing people but they give you an option to go to the power facility if not then you could be fired or remain at the store. The only way you get better at reading scripts is by knowing all the meds out there and running it through your mind to see what matches or you know the dr's handwritting.

 

[Sparda29]

Creams, I am extremely liberal with. For example, on a 60 gram tube of clindamycin that has to be used twice daily, I'm going to give a 7 day supply. If the insurance rejects, I'll just put a DUR over-ride.

It is always annoying as **** when other techs just slap a 30 day supply on it, and the patient comes back 6 days later with an empty tube. Then I gotta go back and reverse the last fill down to 7 days.

 

[SHC1984]

Creams, I am extremely liberal with. For example, on a 60 gram tube of clindamycin that has to be used twice daily, I'm going to give a 7 day supply. If the insurance rejects, I'll just put a DUR over-ride.

It is always annoying as **** when other techs just slap a 30 day supply on it, and the patient comes back 6 days later with an empty tube. Then I gotta go back and reverse the last fill down to 7 days.

I am liberal with creams too...but creams should last FOR a long time! LOL...I use to use Tazaroc acne cream 30g and that tube last me like 6 months!! I don't see how anyone can use it in 7 days! must be abusing their insurance for sure.

 

[phillypharm09]

Do your pharmacists actually care about days supply on drops? I always put the standard 7-10 day supply for any eye or ear drop and usually 15 day supply for cream. I never realized how lucky I have it.

This is great until the drops only last three days and the patient comes in for a refill and you tell them its $100 because its refill too soon.
Then you see the days supply is wrong and you have to call danville for an override as the patient yells and stares everyone down.

 

[Waterwing]

Just a note, you shouldn't be calling MDs for clarification on drug names or sigs or strengths--that is the pharmacist's responsibility--you are not qualified to do this (unless you're an pharmacy intern); however, your pharmacist may ask you to fax the question(s) to the MD if time permits.

But don't feel discouraged OP, you have only been working for TWO months, and honestly that is very LITTLE experience. You will grasp MD hand writing and become familiar with common sigs and drug names, it just takes time.

And you should DEFINITELY ask the pharmacist whenever you are not sure. It will help you grasp the quirks of your pharmacist better, you will pick things up faster, and reduce DREs. Some pharmacists have a preference for how things are typed, and some are more picky than others, so knowing their preferences can go a long way.

Put it in perspective:
Patient's health / life > Annoyed pharmacist (they can miss things just as you can, they aren't prefect).

And slow stores more stressful than busy stores? In my opinion, no. Only in the busiest stores (aka 24-hour stores) will you see one tech devoted to one task. You're going to be MULTI-TASKING at almost every other store you're at (it's just part of the profit maximization practices that comes with
retail pharmacy). I understand how it feels (I work in a busy store too) so I will be glad to answer any questions I can too.

 

[SHC1984]

Just a note, you shouldn't be calling MDs for clarification on drug names or sigs or strengths--that is the pharmacist's responsibility--you are not qualified to do this (unless you're an pharmacy intern); however, your pharmacist may ask you to fax the question(s) to the MD if time permits.

But don't feel discouraged OP, you have only been working for TWO months, and honestly that is very LITTLE experience. You will grasp MD hand writing and become familiar with common sigs and drug names, it just takes time.

And you should DEFINITELY ask the pharmacist whenever you are not sure. It will help you grasp the quirks of your pharmacist better, you will pick things up faster, and reduce DREs. Some pharmacists have a preference for how things are typed, and some are more picky than others, so knowing their preferences can go a long way.

Put it in perspective:
Patient's health / life > Annoyed pharmacist (they can miss things just as you can, they aren't prefect).

And slow stores more stressful than busy stores? In my opinion, no. Only in the busiest stores (aka 24-hour stores) will you see one tech devoted to one task. You're going to be MULTI-TASKING at almost every other store you're at (it's just part of the profit maximization practices that comes with
retail pharmacy). I understand how it feels (I work in a busy store too) so I will be glad to answer any questions I can too.

Thanks a lot for everyones help! My DRE have gone done since I posted this thread. I asked more questions and found out my pharmacist does DRE for things due to preference...like if a scripts says until gone, she will DRE me if I say that...she wants until all is taken...or sometimes she will DRE me if I don't put PRN (as needed) even if the DOCTOR DID NOT write as needed she still DRE me for it! but yeah, I am just glad I have that problem fixed...I am still far from perfect...my Dre percentages now run anywhere from 3%-9%...much better then before. As long as I am under 10% I will be fine b/c I am new and they are going to cut me slack.LOL...thank god. I just don't want to be fired before I get into Pharmacy school.

 

[thephoenician88]

op you should come train with me! yay! haha, i've been there about 2 years. I enjoy what i do there.

 

[Sparda29]

I am liberal with creams too...but creams should last FOR a long time! LOL...I use to use Tazaroc acne cream 30g and that tube last me like 6 months!! I don't see how anyone can use it in 7 days! must be abusing their insurance for sure.

If you were using that once daily, you were using 0.16 g/day. Generally, people are supposed to use 2 gram/application.

 

[SHC1984]

op you should come train with me! yay! haha, i've been there about 2 years. I enjoy what i do there.

hahaha...no way! I am still a newbie...I am still not very good at insurance...I can do the top 5 or 10 most popular insurance's company's Plan IDs but any of the unusual ones I still have NO idea. And I still let the pharmacist fix all the TPRs and DURs...LOL...
You need to come train me to do insurance and TPRs and DURs...I need a guy at my pharmacy...most people have male pharmacists, but all the pharmacists I work with are moody female pharmacists. I have to ask questions to keep my dre under 10%. I need someone more laid back!

 

[SHC1984]

If you were using that once daily, you were using 0.16 g/day. Generally, people are supposed to use 2 gram/application.

2 grams? thats a lot...But my face was never that bad...I had a few pimples but still demanded tazaorc and solodyn. LOL...

 

[FlavyFlav]

Hi hi, I've been a senior tech for 2 years now and I've managed quite well to keep my sig codes at or below 3%. There was a point in time where I was in charge of helping others keep their sig code errors down.

A few tips to help you out.

1) ALWAYS double check what you wrote, a simple one letter typo is the same as typing something completely different from what the rx says. If you spend that extra few seconds reading over what you wrote, you would save more time than having to go back and fix the mistakes after they've been clocked by the pharm.

2) Know what the rx says before you start typing, as was stated before ASK.

3) Get to know your pharmacist, do they like a certain style? would they prefer a tat on the end or do they want the number of days to take the antibiotic? I've been clocked because a pharmacist didn't like the way I worded something, which is BS, but it still counts against you even if you were right.

Those are the best tips to making sure you get good percentages. Now, there are some little tricks you can do (although I am definitely not condoning this, and overuse can be just as bad as getting it wrong)


ahem..

1) If a pharmacist DREs your sig code and it has not been updated and corrected yet, you can delete the rx and rescan it. If you do this, it will not count against you, but use this sparingly because you really shouldn't have to rely on it.

The way the system inteprets whether you messed up the sig code or not all depends on if, after hitting fill rx, you reopen the rx and update it. This will go against you whether it had the red DRE box or not. If you don't believe me, try it.

2) Since you work by yourself with no other techs this may not work so well, but, sig code has nothing to do with the number of rx you type, so hurrying can only hurt your performance. I typed a single rx in one day deliberately, my sig code was 0%. Like I said though, this probably won't work for you.

District frowns on this stuff, but I'm of a belief that poor sig codes does not make a poor technician. Since Walgreen's makes this one point their entire benchmark, I don't feel so bad talking about the ways around it. Especially since I've talked with the DPTC and DPM about coming up with a better way and still haven't seen anything come of it. As for firing someone with poor sig codes, this is the first I've heard of it. Especially someone with that many years of service, it's astounding. Excepting that there are no other reasons (bad economy, other factors), it is a shame they would do that.

 

[SHC1984]

Hi hi, I've been a senior tech for 2 years now and I've managed quite well to keep my sig codes at or below 3%. There was a point in time where I was in charge of helping others keep their sig code errors down.

A few tips to help you out.

1) ALWAYS double check what you wrote, a simple one letter typo is the same as typing something completely different from what the rx says. If you spend that extra few seconds reading over what you wrote, you would save more time than having to go back and fix the mistakes after they've been clocked by the pharm.

2) Know what the rx says before you start typing, as was stated before ASK.

3) Get to know your pharmacist, do they like a certain style? would they prefer a tat on the end or do they want the number of days to take the antibiotic? I've been clocked because a pharmacist didn't like the way I worded something, which is BS, but it still counts against you even if you were right.

Those are the best tips to making sure you get good percentages. Now, there are some little tricks you can do (although I am definitely not condoning this, and overuse can be just as bad as getting it wrong)


ahem..

1) If a pharmacist DREs your sig code and it has not been updated and corrected yet, you can delete the rx and rescan it. If you do this, it will not count against you, but use this sparingly because you really shouldn't have to rely on it.

The way the system inteprets whether you messed up the sig code or not all depends on if, after hitting fill rx, you reopen the rx and update it. This will go against you whether it had the red DRE box or not. If you don't believe me, try it.

2) Since you work by yourself with no other techs this may not work so well, but, sig code has nothing to do with the number of rx you type, so hurrying can only hurt your performance. I typed a single rx in one day deliberately, my sig code was 0%. Like I said though, this probably won't work for you.

District frowns on this stuff, but I'm of a belief that poor sig codes does not make a poor technician. Since Walgreen's makes this one point their entire benchmark, I don't feel so bad talking about the ways around it. Especially since I've talked with the DPTC and DPM about coming up with a better way and still haven't seen anything come of it. As for firing someone with poor sig codes, this is the first I've heard of it. Especially someone with that many years of service, it's astounding. Excepting that there are no other reasons (bad economy, other factors), it is a shame they would do that.

REALLY??? if the pharmacist DRE me...all I have to do is delete the image and it won't count against me? That makes sense. but a lot of the time the pharmacist will change it for me on her screen...so its a dre, but she change it for me...but that doesn't happen as often anymore since I told her to let me fix it.

Okay, so you are saying that if I noticed that I have made a mistake before the pharmacist had time to DRE me and I go into work queue...(f2) and pull up my ENTERED prescription and updated it there it will count as a DRE??? are you serious???? I don't do this often...but I really didn't know that it counts as a DRE!! in fact I don't think my pharmacist knows that either...I thought you get DRE only if the pharmacist DRE you on her screen...So I can DRE MYSELF if I updated from my screen in the work queue?? really???

I think Sig Codes are very important...but not the only thing that makes a good tech...a good tech is one that knows everything about insurance, can easily read doctors handwritings, can answer all patient questions, can mulitask efficiently, knows everything about the Walgreens computer system, and make customers happy (don't piss anyone off). I am FAR from a good tech, but I am working on it. I am just glad my sig codes have been under 10% every since I was "warned" by my store manager. He says ideally all techs should have DRE % of 5% or less...but since I am new he will let me go with 9% or less...he says anything above a 10% is NOT acceptable PERIOD!

 

[FlavyFlav]

REALLY??? if the pharmacist DRE me...all I have to do is delete the image and it won't count against me? That makes sense. but a lot of the time the pharmacist will change it for me on her screen...so its a dre, but she change it for me...but that doesn't happen as often anymore since I told her to let me fix it.

True, if you know you messed up, you can delete it before the pharmacist looks at it. However, this throws your deletes out of proportion so it's not going to bring you from a 20% to 0% without raising some flags. It should be used very sparingly.

Okay, so you are saying that if I noticed that I have made a mistake before the pharmacist had time to DRE me and I go into work queue...(f2) and pull up my ENTERED prescription and updated it there it will count as a DRE??? are you serious???? I don't do this often...but I really didn't know that it counts as a DRE!! in fact I don't think my pharmacist knows that either...I thought you get DRE only if the pharmacist DRE you on her screen...So I can DRE MYSELF if I updated from my screen in the work queue?? really???

Not only can you DRE yourself, but another tech could go behind you, place a period (.) on everything you entered and you would get a big fat 100% on your sig codes. It's a system full of flaws which leads me to...

I think Sig Codes are very important...but not the only thing that makes a good tech...a good tech is one that knows everything about insurance, can easily read doctors handwritings, can answer all patient questions, can mulitask efficiently, knows everything about the Walgreens computer system, and make customers happy (don't piss anyone off). I am FAR from a good tech, but I am working on it. I am just glad my sig codes have been under 10% every since I was "warned" by my store manager. He says ideally all techs should have DRE % of 5% or less...but since I am new he will let me go with 9% or less...he says anything above a 10% is NOT acceptable PERIOD!

That mythical 3% is very subjective as it's based off many factors both controlled and uncontrolled. For your situation, you have many responsibilities at one time and most times you're typing, you may be interrupted at any point in the rx. At my store, we always have a dedicated typer which makes it harder to make the minute mistakes that are our plague.

You're on the right track of what a good pharm tech should be. Keep your sigs down but don't put it before the more important stuff. It's good to hear your motivation and drive, the world could use more people like you. I know I could use you at my store.

Regards,

 

[Mizab]

I have been a tech with walgreens for a few years. I don't know what district your in or how it works but in my district at all the sr tech meetings we made a huge deal out of pharmacists either dre or updating scripts for their own preferance and now pretty much they don't do this at all to us. My advice here is to put your foot down you only have to put what the dr said on script if he didn't say tat on script you don't have to put that and if pharmacist wants it tell them they can delete script and add it that way otherwise stays like doc wrote it. At first I had a lot of problems with pharmacists since they tend to think they are somewhat god like but I just explained to them their preferance was screwing me over so maybe doing same thing can help you out.

 

[SHC1984]

True, if you know you messed up, you can delete it before the pharmacist looks at it. However, this throws your deletes out of proportion so it's not going to bring you from a 20% to 0% without raising some flags. It should be used very sparingly.



Not only can you DRE yourself, but another tech could go behind you, place a period (.) on everything you entered and you would get a big fat 100% on your sig codes. It's a system full of flaws which leads me to...





That mythical 3% is very subjective as it's based off many factors both controlled and uncontrolled. For your situation, you have many responsibilities at one time and most times you're typing, you may be interrupted at any point in the rx. At my store, we always have a dedicated typer which makes it harder to make the minute mistakes that are our plague.

You're on the right track of what a good pharm tech should be. Keep your sigs down but don't put it before the more important stuff. It's good to hear your motivation and drive, the world could use more people like you. I know I could use you at my store.

Regards,

Wow. You have taught me a lot! I (and most others) would have NEVER guessed that you can DRE yourself!! I still can't believe that. LOL....

So the ONLY way to prevent getting DRE is by deleting the image and re-typing the entire script over??? Is that the only way??

I will use it sparingly as my goal is to get under 10% which I have been doing. My DRE since my warning was 3%-9% which is good enough for me! I am not trying to get a 0% LOL...I mean if I do get 0% its great but I am not going to beat myself up b/c I don't get it... If I can just type all day with no interruptions then maybe I can get 0%.

What do you hate the most about being a retail pharm tech at Walgreens?

 

[SHC1984]

I have been a tech with walgreens for a few years. I don't know what district your in or how it works but in my district at all the sr tech meetings we made a huge deal out of pharmacists either dre or updating scripts for their own preferance and now pretty much they don't do this at all to us. My advice here is to put your foot down you only have to put what the dr said on script if he didn't say tat on script you don't have to put that and if pharmacist wants it tell them they can delete script and add it that way otherwise stays like doc wrote it. At first I had a lot of problems with pharmacists since they tend to think they are somewhat god like but I just explained to them their preferance was screwing me over so maybe doing same thing can help you out.

Really? I work in Charlotte NC. Not sure the exact district. I have never been to a senior tech meeting b/c I am still a newbie. LOL... But I know what you mean. My pharmacist is very picky. She will DRE me if I don't put PRN!!! A lot of the times a Dr. will write tk 2 ts po bid or tk 1 tea q 4 h for 10 days. And the pharmacist will DRE me b/c I didn't put PRN even though the Dr. didn't put it EITHER!!! But now that I know that it has helped me with my %. She will also DRE me if I put what the DR. Put take 1 t po qd until all gone. She will dre me b/c she wants take 1 t po qd until all is taken!!!! Oh and I have also been dre for putting for 5 days or for 10 days b/c the rx had a refill. Sometimes the Dr. will put take 1 t po bid for 10 days. refill-1 and she will dre me b/c techinically its NOT for 10 days b/c there is a "refill", but the DR wrote 10 days...but I still get DRE...So I am more careful with that as well... and the list goes on but now that I know what the pharmacist hates I think I will be better off.

 

[FlavyFlav]

Really? I work in Charlotte NC. Not sure the exact district. I have never been to a senior tech meeting b/c I am still a newbie. LOL... But I know what you mean. My pharmacist is very picky. She will DRE me if I don't put PRN!!! A lot of the times a Dr. will write tk 2 ts po bid or tk 1 tea q 4 h for 10 days. And the pharmacist will DRE me b/c I didn't put PRN even though the Dr. didn't put it EITHER!!! But now that I know that it has helped me with my %. She will also DRE me if I put what the DR. Put take 1 t po qd until all gone. She will dre me b/c she wants take 1 t po qd until all is taken!!!! Oh and I have also been dre for putting for 5 days or for 10 days b/c the rx had a refill. Sometimes the Dr. will put take 1 t po bid for 10 days. refill-1 and she will dre me b/c techinically its NOT for 10 days b/c there is a "refill", but the DR wrote 10 days...but I still get DRE...So I am more careful with that as well... and the list goes on but now that I know what the pharmacist hates I think I will be better off.

You have an anal pharmacist, and I'm afraid it sounds like it's in a bad way. Valtrex rx's can come with a tk 1 t po bid for 2 days #4 with so many refills. The doctor only wants the treatment for the 2 days to treat the sores and is giving refills in case of future outbreaks. In this case, putting 2 days is correct.

From my experience more than 9 times out of 10, if the doctor writes it, it should be on the rx. If a doctor wants prn, they'll write it on their, otherwise they may want the patient to continue taking ibuprofen 600 whether they need it or not. If the pharmacist is adding prn when it's unnecessary, that could pose a potential risk and should be checked into.

As for until gone, or whatever, just type 'tat' it's much faster anyways and you can't typo it.