Lazy pharmacy manager

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rx1983

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What would you do as the staff pharmacist at a store where a new pharmacy manager who has been with the company a long time takes over your store and does the following: Tells technicians that when filling prescriptions staple them into the paper bags that they are sold in, the pharmacy manager then will scan them and put them into ready status (not even looking at the medication). Of course you keep doing things your own way on your shifts but get irritated because out of habit the techs often hand you bags that are stapled closed as they have been trained.

Obviously this is a big no no, and seeing a pharmacist act in this manner honestly fires me up. My company made this guy a pharmacy manager?! These techs were very well trained by the previous manager and now they’re told to do this by Mr. Lazy Pharmacist.

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Call the ethics line.
 
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I think this is a misunderstanding. I worked with a pharmacist who asked the techs to staple the leaflet to one side of a bag before passing it along to verification. Saves the pharmacist about 3 seconds per RX. As long as he is actually verifying, there's no issue.
 
Different way of doing things you just gotta talk with him and work it out
 
I think this is a misunderstanding. I worked with a pharmacist who asked the techs to staple the leaflet to one side of a bag before passing it along to verification. Saves the pharmacist about 3 seconds per RX. As long as he is actually verifying, there's no issue.

This saves absolutely zero time (and wastes technician time), as the pharmacist, you can put 1 staple into the bag to both seal it and attach the label, you don't need one on the side also.
 
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I'm not going to say that pharmacists are lazy, because that obviously isn't true...but the laziest people I've ever met in my life are all pharmacists...
 
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I think this is a misunderstanding. I worked with a pharmacist who asked the techs to staple the leaflet to one side of a bag before passing it along to verification. Saves the pharmacist about 3 seconds per RX. As long as he is actually verifying, there's no issue.
Nope, not a misunderstanding. Doesn’t look at medication, just scans rxs and makes them ready.
 
This saves absolutely zero time (and wastes technician time), as the pharmacist, you can put 1 staple into the bag to both seal it and attach the label, you don't need one on the side also.
Exactly. The techs do enough, dictating to them that they staple a bag because the pharmacist is too lazy to is ridiculous.
 
At my old store the pharmacist would check the rx, stock bottle, ticket/label and then flip the filled rx over to indicate it was done. Then the techs would bag it up and staple it and put the stock bottles back.
 
Ethics. No response? BoP. This pharmacist is endangering patient safety.
 
Okay....at least be professional about it. Because you’re not one of the lazy unprofessionals.

So as a professional: have a talk with him. See if what the techs told you is correct before calling the ethics line or call the BOP.

Then if after talking to him you have confirmed he is doing what you claimed in your post ...then it is your legal, professional and ethical duty to put a stop to this before someone gets hurt.
 
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No guys this is clever and gets the job done it's ok
 
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Okay....at least be professional about it. Because you’re not one of the lazy unprofessionals.

So as a professional: have a talk with him. See if what the techs told you is correct before calling the ethics line or call the BOP.

Then if after talking to him you have confirmed he is doing what you claimed in your post ...then it is your legal, professional and ethical duty to put a stop to this before someone gets hurt.

agreed. I don't know if you actually see it with your own eyes but I wouldn't just go based on what the techs said. And especially not against a savvy guy who has been with the company for a long time. For all you know, the same techs can say #### about you too to the pharmacy manager.
 
Nope, not a misunderstanding. Doesn’t look at medication, just scans rxs and makes them ready.
It might be best to tell the pharmacy manager to let the techs know that when you are verifying you do not want to have the prescriptions bagged and stapled. As for his method of verifying prescriptions...Granted, not how I'd do it but ultimately it's his license and his prerogative on how he chooses to verify.
 
I can not Say Pharmacist is Lazy. There are diffrent different ways of doing the things. But if one day something wrong happened with patient then it will make big issue for that manager.
 
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The most important lesson that I ever learned about criticizing others in these circumstances is that "don't worry about problem people, they'll take care of themselves...". Make sure it's known that you're not doing it, and let it go. Sure, it's bad practice, but it's not your license and you're not the PIC. The idiot will take care of himself/herself if you think the practice is that bad.
 
Most places have a no retaliation protocol. Just call the hotline.....after you actually see it. Don't rely on the word of the techs, they can call too.
 
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Well you have a lazy one but I have an incompetent one. Everything is 340b and all he cares about. I have had to personally buy staplers, tape, and just now vials $1000 because he has been at hospital 40 years and doesn't either care or doesn't give a ****. Good thing I keep a journal of all those items when my review comes up.
 
Well you have a lazy one but I have an incompetent one. Everything is 340b and all he cares about. I have had to personally buy staplers, tape, and just now vials $1000 because he has been at hospital 40 years and doesn't either care or doesn't give a ****. Good thing I keep a journal of all those items when my review comes up.
You are actually kidding..right?...Juicing up the tale a little bit?...I hope so....
 
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Have you confirmed that the manager isn't actually Superman? Maybe he is using his x-ray vision to verify, in which case it does save time by having the tech's pre-bag everything. Just remind the techs that there is only one Superman, so they need *not* to pre-bag everything for all other pharmacists.
 
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I'd just report every single mistake this manager make due to not checking the drug inside the bottle.

Ask him if he wants to visit Bentonville.
 
I'd just report every single mistake this manager make due to not checking the drug inside the bottle.

Ask him if he wants to visit Bentonville.
Wrong chain. You can’t print the paperwork at Walmart without accessing the bottle after it is verified.
 
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