I just had to vent. Today I met my new PDM. He is currently waiting to receive his certified tech license. Yup, he's not a pharmacist. Wow. I don't even know how to respond to this. There are so many things wrong with this, I don't even know what bothers me the most. My first question to him was whether he could do that legally. Apparently in Maine you can.
Well there's absolutely no law in California requiring some nebulous pharmacy district manager to be a registered pharmacist. It's a corporate created boss of the chains. All they have to do is say it's a management level position and there really aren't any requirements. What makes you think there are? I mean the goddamn CEO of a company can be a high school graduate, why do you think that your dip**** PDM has to be an RPh? Yeah it's pretty stupid but so are the chains themselves, I'd expect nothing more.
This is Rite Aid. I've never heard of a PDM not being an RPh. There are a ton of things my PDM can't do because law forbids it, but yet he can oversee me. And you're right about this being a corporate appointed position. But not being a pharmacist makes it worse, since they have no idea where I'm coming from. They don't understand the legal, ethical, or professional goals I need to meet everyday. His biggest concerns are going to be things like tech budget (which is always too constrictive), and proper sign placement.
