Making Techs Cry

[Apotheker2015]

Reading through this thread has made me very grateful for my Navy techs. Crying? Pshhh. I can’t even imagine.

Navy techs would be a dream come true. "Yes, SIR." "Absolutely, SIR" "Right away, SIR" "No, SIR"
Seriously, two pharmacists can run a pharmacy. I say we just get rid of techs.

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[Apotheker2015]

Well I am trying to be as unbiased as possible and I realize that making a tech fill a script EXACTLY the way you tell them to can seem a bit much. But if I tell a tech to do something and they don’t so I give them back the script to redo it the way I told them I don’t expect tears in response. It’s not a rational response. Just bad mouth me in the break room to other techs or pharmacists, techs these days are spoiled.

If I may chime in here, I've run into this and failed to grab the pharmacy operations manual right away, print out the paragraph that specifically refers to what I had asked of them and failed to have them acknowledge the policy by initialing it. It's recommended that you do that in the presence of another female of a higher pay grade. Sit down, too, so they can't say that you're physically intimidating the technician. If what you're asking of technicians is nothing but company policy, then there's nowhere to run. If it isn't, then try to stick to that. I would even print the prescription, write on it what the tech is supposed to do, per company policy and have the tech initial it. It's extreme but then there's no misunderstanding.

And now they're pushing for technician-run pharmacies. Often times, we can't even keep techs in line when we're 8 feet away from them, what's going to happen when we have to supervise them remotely? Hell no. @Kevin.Mero

 

[CetiAlphaFive]

I was actually one of the only RPhs who would say anything, most would just pass the buck.

Was working side by side with rx manager, customer getting verbally assaulted by tech and asking for management and rx manager did nothing.
Was working side by side with different rx manager, tech in lobby counseling and about to check blood pressure when I interrupted him.

How can you manage when you don't have authority to hire, fire, write up, give raises, send home the techs? You have no formal authority. Years back at the same job, a formal complaint was filed against me for sending an insubordinate tech home. Same place years later the dm came in and counseled me telling me I was not a technicians supervisor as I countered the board regs which require a pharmacist to supervise a tech and for a pharmacist to approve who is in the dispensing area.

If I had to resort to yelling at someone as intensively as you have, that person should be let go.

Truth is good techs are very important to a pharmacy but they are hard to come by. They don't want to work in the same crappy environment like us. So we get anybody the company is going to hire and all of they are pharmacy experts. At my last job, owner hired tech. Told me tech did not report to me. Tech was given basic duties order drugs, file records of receipt, check outdates, fill rxs. He did nothing close to right. F'ed up my inventory, F'ed record keeping, made verification longer due to missfills, pissed off customers and was aggressive toward me. This is retail pharmacy.

You tell them to leave the pharmacy and report them to the board.
If you get written up, refuse to sign it and report the situation to the board.
Your dm was aabsolutely breaking company policy.

Lastly, have some self respect and quit

People only have the leverage you give them.

 

[johnpharm01]

You tell them to leave the pharmacy and report them to the board.
If you get written up, refuse to sign it and report the situation to the board.
Your dm was aabsolutely breaking company policy.

Lastly, have some self respect and quit

People only have the leverage you give them.

Thank you for your advice. I was wondering what other RPhs would do. I think this would be a good strategy, in fact my last position was being managed this way and I quit. After being a pharmacist for almost 20 years I will no longer work in this type of environment even if it means I have to find another career field.

Apothekers comments regarding techs are right. Quarterbacking multiple pharmacies remotely while the techs run it just won't work. How does someone with a high school education, no license make decisions that can profoundly affect patients health?

And some of the best techs do work in DOD civilian and military. I worked at an AFB and the senior airmen could verify rxs entered in the computer by military docs. One of the civilian techs actually helped prevent would have been a lethal outcome (anaphylaxis) by alerting me and both of us contacting the md. Then a different tech (military) also contributed to saving the same life by running the crash cart down to the clinic.

 

[CountBy5s]

I agree a manager sets the tone for how the pharmacy runs. There are techs who respond to gentle and polite requests but sometimes an insubordinate tech needs to go. Start the process but remain professional. Document your counseling sessions with written statements and expectations. Have them sign and date these expectations. They get a copy and you keep copy outside of the pharmacy. Have a witness present when necessary. Don't let one bad apple distroy the barrel.
Make an example out of them. They will sink their own ship.
It's easier to retrain performance than to fix attitudes.

Starting the paper trail will either scary them straight or you have documentation for termination.