Mass Punishment

[PharmDstudent]

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Why do we, as a profession, put up with mass punishment?! Does one mistake, one act of malaise, or one indiscretion mean that an entire profession should suffer the complications of trying to prevent that specific type of wrongdoing from happening again? The working environment for pharmacists is becoming torturous because of a handful of bad apples like NECC or USP 797 updates after only 4 years. So why do we put up with mass punishment? Why aren't we fighting back?

ASHP thinks that when remodeling facilities to current USP 797 standards, "capital costs can be amortized over many years" see page 6, which I think is bull****. Many years?! As soon as everyone is compliant with USP 797 circa 2008, they'll come up with something else that needs to be changed and crammed down our throats, thereby blowing our budgets and making our lives a living hell!

Does USP give a **** that the number of employees working within pharmacy departments has dropped nationwide because of budget cuts due to declining reimbursements? For the most part, I work with half the number of technicians that I used to work with less than 10 years ago. Do USP care about the cost and manpower needed to jump through their hoops? No they don't, and why should they?

Do state boards of pharmacy care that pharmacy technicians no longer earn a decent living but have to put up with all of the unnecessary rule changes because of a few bad apples across the profession?

SO WHAT'S NEXT PEOPLE?!

I want to see what your predictions are for the next round of mass punishment that we'll get to endure...

 

[npage148]

The fact NECC could function as it did indicates to me that "mass punishment" or global regulation changes are required. You should be upset with them for operating like lunatics not the system that reacts to prevent it from happening again.

 

[mustang sally]

I'm actually kind of excited about this because it means we should be getting a new (and badly needed) pharmacy. As long as they don't take away my technicians in the process...🙂

 

[PharmDstudent]

The fact NECC could function as it did indicates to me that "mass punishment" or global regulation changes are required. You should be upset with them for operating like lunatics not the system that reacts to prevent it from happening again.

That's the problem with pharmacy regulation - it's reactive, which is degrading for people who do things right to begin with.

I'm actually kind of excited about this because it means we should be getting a new (and badly needed) pharmacy. As long as they don't take away my technicians in the process...🙂

My fingers are crossed. I hope they don't cost-shift and take away technicians.

 

[PharmDstudent]

I've been reading a lot lately about torture and how people survive it. Those who survive the worst form of torture (long-term solitary confinement) are combatant. Since don't I really see the difference between what's happening in pharmacy and other forms of torture as it's all just an exercise in endurance, combatant it is! How else are we going to stop this situation from getting worse?!

 

[297point1]

Does one mistake, one act of malaise, or one indiscretion mean that an entire profession should suffer the complications of trying to prevent that specific type of wrongdoing from happening again?

Because that's how politicians score points, and it's all in the name of "patient safety".
Federal congress, state legislatures, town councils...it's all the same.

 

[owlegrad]

You hate the system for trying to prevent further tragedy?

 

[297point1]

You hate the system for trying to prevent further tragedy?

Not sure if that was directed to me or the OP...

I hate knee-jerk reactions by folks looking to improve their favorability ratings.

 

[owlegrad]

Not sure if that was directed to me or the OP...

I hate knee-jerk reactions by folks looking to improve their favorability ratings.

I was directing it more at OP, but I guess it could apply to anyone against making safety improvements to the system. Does it matter if the intention is altruistic or selfish? The result is the same. NECC proved we have a gap in the system that allows the public to be put at danger and that needs to end. That is what is important.

 

[297point1]

NECC proved we have a gap in the system that allows the public to be put at danger and that needs to end. That is what is important.

No argument here...

Does it matter if the intention is altruistic or selfish? The result is the same.

If the person is both altruistic and knowledgeable on the subject, the individual might recognize that a single event may not require additional training/regulation/oversight...perhaps it can be dealt with on the individual level. Perhaps not. But they are willing to hear both sides and do a good root analysis of the underlying causes of the problem.

The selfish person is neither altruistic or [likely] knowledgeable, and only wants to make noise and (oftentimes) trouble, proposing regulations and law changes to appease the folks with the torches and pitchforks. The selfish person is rarely helpful.

Too much philosophy on a Friday.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Mass punishment doesn't work. Reason is, criminals don't follow laws, they don't care if stricter laws are passed, they aren't going to follow those either.

The thing with NECC, there already WERE regulations preventing the nasty mess their pharmacy was in. NECC didn't care, so they didn't follow the regulations. The regulations weren't enforced because they made strategic donations to politicians.

So now, people who already were following the regulations & not paying off people to ignore their criminal activity are being mass punished. These people will sacrifice to follow all the new regulations, the people like NECC who haven't been caught yet will continue ignoring both the new & old regulations and paying bribes to have their disregard of safety regulations ignored.

So how to stop the cycle? No easy answers, but a start would be stricter punishment of politicians/regulators/anyone else who takes bribes of any sort to cover up criminal wrongdoing or blatant disregard of safety regulations.

 

[PharmDstudent]

Because that's how politicians score points, and it's all in the name of "patient safety".
Federal congress, state legislatures, town councils...it's all the same.

Why has "patient safety" become our first priority? Perhaps it's because there is no end to it, and obviously those sterile compounding cardboard box villains need to be fought with paper dresses and shoes and lunch lady hats while a nurse can make the exact same thing after hours after the pharmacy closes AND sanitized counting trays can stop all of the penicillin particles from adhering to a penicillin-allergic patient's lisinopril tablets after being stored in a stock vial that was already filled and emptied of penicillin by a pharmacy technician that didn't even notice because there were twice or three times as many things to worry about now than there were 10 years ago whenever they actually had coworkers with whom they could split up duties.

You hate the system for trying to prevent further tragedy?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

NECC was manufacturing without a license. Plain and simple. Case closed. We already had laws covering what NECC did and yet more restrictive laws were proposed and passed to make it more difficult for people who were already following the existing law that was in place. This is exactly the kind of stuff that I'm talking about: Permanent Discontinuance or Interruption in Manufacturing of Certain Drug or Biological Products. So instead of the FDA giving TRUE manufacturers incentives to increase supply according to demand, the FDA wants to punish them for not speaking up whenever they're already struggling to get raw materials, already fail to make a profit on something, etc.

Not sure if that was directed to me or the OP...

I hate knee-jerk reactions by folks looking to improve their favorability ratings.

I hate knee-jerk reactions. That's all the lawmakers controlling this profession seem to be good for nowadays though.

I was directing it more at OP, but I guess it could apply to anyone against making safety improvements to the system. Does it matter if the intention is altruistic or selfish? The result is the same. NECC proved we have a gap in the system that allows the public to be put at danger and that needs to end. That is what is important.

Unless something hazardous that is not already addressed in some form or fashion crops up, which was not the case with NECC or other known cases of misbranding and adulteration, then we need the flexibility to practice as professionals. Filling prescriptions, manufacturing medications, and billing insurance for services rendered should not be an obstacle course.

Who gets hurt while having to wait for emergency medications because staffing sizes have been obliterated? People.

Who gets hurt whenever corporations continue to tighten payroll budgets further and further and further without providing greater efficiency or reducing demands? People.

Who gets hurt from a drug shortage? People.

Who gets hurt from insurance bullying? People.

Mass punishment doesn't work. Reason is, criminals don't follow laws, they don't care if stricter laws are passed, they aren't going to follow those either.

The thing with NECC, there already WERE regulations preventing the nasty mess their pharmacy was in. NECC didn't care, so they didn't follow the regulations.

Exactly

 

[PharmDstudent]

 

[PharmDstudent]