Staff issues rant

[Pharmd297]

PIC and my partner is a close to retirement, recent floater who became a staff last year. Beyond slow with what they do; I have to come in early on the split shifts/ next day because I know what I’ll be walking into and I will help clear things out;
Multiple chats. But always the same excuse from them of being overwhelmed and understaffed.

Top of that; always keeping techs way past their scheduled time and going way above hours.

Any advice? Rude to write up them up?

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[Mambo#5]

PIC and my partner is a close to retirement, recent floater who became a staff last year. Beyond slow with what they do; I have to come in early on the split shifts/ next day because I know what I’ll be walking into and I will help clear things out;
Multiple chats. But always the same excuse from them of being overwhelmed and understaffed.

Top of that; always keeping techs way past their scheduled time and going way above hours.

Any advice? Rude to write up them up?

You think writing them up will make them move faster or be more efficient? That’s just the way the cookie crumbles. Some luck out and get good staff and others don’t. It’s just like dealing with crappy techs, you can’t really turn them into excellent techs unless they themselves are driven internally and want to be excellent. I deal with the same issue you do with a pharmacist that’s like 90 years old or works like it. I think the best, is just to try and find a way to cope with it so that you don’t get stressed out.....whatever that may be.

 

[pencilandpen]

why would it be rude to write someone up for not keeping up with the work flow?
do you go to work to get the job done or to be "nice"??

or you can go in early for your shift indefinitely and work for free , keep going over budget hours, which will reflect poorly on your management

 

[Sine Cura]

We get paid to work so if you do not work well or **** **** up for other people it's not a good look and you should expect to be held accountable

Performance falls on a continuum. Very few situations where a pharmacist is expected to verify 500+ a day in a brick and mortar environment open to the public but being a turtle being able to do only 5 Rx an hour also has patient safety implications due to unnecessary distractions and customer complaints

 

[Saiyo]

I hum the Jurassic park theme to myself when I have to work with the dinosaurs. Drastically improves my mood when I watch them act busy, and they are not very good actors. Welcome to every career ever.

 

[Chrish]

You would be surprised what write-up can accomplish. While I don't like for someone to be written up since it can lead to termination, in some cases it is unfortunately necessary. I have seen people make 180 degree turn once they get written up for performance.

What I would do is tell your supervisor about the situation backed up by numbers and tell him/ her that you are picking up all the slack and risking patient safety in process since you are overworked. Write this in email so that you have written documentation. Your supervisor will be forced to have one-on-one conversation with this person. This should definitely either improve the situation or build up evidence against this person in case if he continues with subpar performance.

 

[Sabril]

I think this is what makes pharmacy more difficult than what it should be. Competent people can't find jobs or got let go, and too many people who shouldn't be there at all are allowed to drag their feet.

 

[owlegrad]

Good luck OP. It is ironic how many pharmacists there are that are less than stellar from a productivity standpoint considering how understaffed pharmacies are. You would think that pharmacists that can’t keep up would be the first to be forced out.

 

[wagrxm2000]

Good luck OP. It is ironic how many pharmacists there are that are less than stellar from a productivity standpoint considering how understaffed pharmacies are. You would think that pharmacists that can’t keep up would be the first to be forced out.

It really makes zero sense

 

[Twentytwelve2]

Without hard metrics in place for technicians, it is hard to write them up for performance.

 

[pencilandpen]

Good luck OP. It is ironic how many pharmacists there are that are less than stellar from a productivity standpoint considering how understaffed pharmacies are. You would think that pharmacists that can’t keep up would be the first to be forced out.

I have seen many pharmacists being forced out for not keeping up with the work flow, just takes a while to build up a case and terminate them.

 

[rxkrafted]

So its you vs the PIC, the other staff pharmacist and techs? Is anyone from that shift on your side to back you? Have you worked the same shift as one of them before? Need more info.

 

[PharmacistFl12]

PIC and my partner is a close to retirement, recent floater who became a staff last year. Beyond slow with what they do; I have to come in early on the split shifts/ next day because I know what I’ll be walking into and I will help clear things out;
Multiple chats. But always the same excuse from them of being overwhelmed and understaffed.

Top of that; always keeping techs way past their scheduled time and going way above hours.

Any advice? Rude to write up them up?

Why would you want to write them up? You sound like a sucker for corporate. Pharmacist like you are the reason why our profession is regressing. So you want them to work faster and put 110% effort to satisfy some non-rph supervisor who has no idea how difficult daily pharmacy operation is?

 

[pencilandpen]

Why would you want to write them up? You sound like a sucker for corporate. Pharmacist like you are the reason why our profession is regressing. So you want them to work faster and put 110% effort to satisfy some non-rph supervisor who has no idea how difficult daily pharmacy operation is?

and its even harder with a pharmacist who cant keep up with the work flow. In a typical pharmacy theres only 2 pharmacists. if one pharmacist cant keep up with the work flow and constantly leaves a mess, is it fair for the other pharmacist to pick up the slack all the time??
if you cant do the job, you need to be replaced.

 

[PharmacistFl12]

and its even harder with a pharmacist who cant keep up with the work flow. In a typical pharmacy theres only 2 pharmacists. if one pharmacist cant keep up with the work flow and constantly leaves a mess, is it fair for the other pharmacist to pick up the slack all the time??
if you cant do the job, you need to be replaced.

That's not how life works. You can keep on pushing to go faster and overwork your staff but supervisors and corporate could care less. I made the mistake when I first graduated of being a "fast" pharmacist and overachieving. I thought I was better than the older pharmacist, looking back now i felt for the bait from corporate. It's a trap and they want us to out perform each other.

 

[Twentytwelve2]

That's not how life works. You can keep on pushing to go faster and overwork your staff but supervisors and corporate could care less. I made the mistake when I first graduated of being a "fast" pharmacist and overachieving. I thought I was better than the older pharmacist, looking back now i felt for the bait from corporate. It's a trap and they want us to out perform each other.

Or it is common decency for you to put in equal share of the work so you dont overload your team mate.

 

[pencilandpen]

That's not how life works. You can keep on pushing to go faster and overwork your staff but supervisors and corporate could care less. I made the mistake when I first graduated of being a "fast" pharmacist and overachieving. I thought I was better than the older pharmacist, looking back now i felt for the bait from corporate. It's a trap and they want us to out perform each other.

so not leaving a mess for your partner on a daily basis is considered "over achieving"? wow.....

 

[PharmacistFl12]

so not leaving a mess for your partner on a daily basis is considered "over achieving"? wow.....

You just don't understand. It's not about leaving a mess. It's about working at your own pace and not pushing to the limit and being "fast". We pharmacist are destroying our own profession daily by acting like a rabbit chasing after a carrot stick.

 

[Sine Cura]

Again it is not all or nothing like either being a slug or blasting through everything without even doing DUR.


During my time at Walmart I've come across ****ty & clueless pharmacists that will "call" on Zofran regular vs Zofran ODT or Basaglar vs Lantus or Admelog vs Humalog (and it's especially bad because California has a statute that allows those substitutions without prescriber consent, just that the patient has to be informed and wants the change) and don't know how to prioritize work. They'll spend 20 minutes on hold on the phone with ****ty FQHCs that never answer the phone and DO NOTHING ELSE.

They'll leave 4-5 opioid Rx in the queue for the AM pharmacist to validate, even rinky-dink ED and dental scripts, all because they are too lazy to validate Rx and "couldn't get around to it on time" yet they'll fill simvastatin 80 + gemfibrozil combos sight unseen or allow hospitalist Basaglar + syringe combs to be filled and tell the customer to pay 30+ bucks for BD pen needles. These pharmacists always initiate counseling by "have you had this before" instead making a good faith effort to, um, do their job.