Suicide and CVS

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mikejones123

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Just found out yesterday that since the beginning of this year, 3 pharmacist in my district have committed suicide. 2 were pharmacy managers and the other one was an overnighter. Now I know correlation isn't causation but I was wondering if anyone had any info about suicide rates among pharmacists. It would be interesting to know how they compare to the national average.
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mikejones123 said:
Just found out yesterday that since the beginning of this year, 3 pharmacist in my district have committed suicide. 2 were pharmacy managers and the other one was an overnighter. Now I know correlation isn't causation but I was wondering if anyone had any info about suicide rates among pharmacists. It would be interesting to know how they compare to the national average.
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I worked with a RPH who at first report died of MI. But a year later word got out he had hung himself. It made sense considering he was 45-50 range and hence in the Sargasso Sea of a typical pharmacy career when one realizes it's never going to get better, the unending death march.
 
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Pretty much any occupation with high stress has an above average suicide rate. Why pharmacy harbours a high suicide rate The biggest thing to any high stress career is to take care of yourself and don't abuse substances. From my experiences the companies that are located where no one wants to live will bend over backwards to keep you around. Just a way better quality of life overall.
 
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mikejones123 said:
Just found out yesterday that since the beginning of this year, 3 pharmacist in my district have committed suicide. 2 were pharmacy managers and the other one was an overnighter. Now I know correlation isn't causation but I was wondering if anyone had any info about suicide rates among pharmacists. It would be interesting to know how they compare to the national average.
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The title is pretty self-explanatory... CVS... suicide... haha
 
No offense but what a pathetic thread!
 
That's quite well-known among the senior staff. It's basically the perfect storm of high stress, low self-actualization, and high commitments. I wish that mental health instrument exams were made mandatory for practitioners, but that day will never come (and while it can be argued that people just learn to answer the right way anyway, it's pretty straightforward for peer evaluation in this case).

It's been on my mind as of late. The second youngest in my class (I was the youngest) is dead for undisclosed reasons, and I will be at his service this coming Friday. I've always said that the challenge is to go in day after day, year after year, and that point is driven home ever so often.
 
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You gotta stop caring. Patients, staff, DM, and any other stupid crap. Turn the emotional part of your brain off when at work and just do whatever it takes. If someone cusses me I just smile and go to the next task. Don't give a shi...
 
I knew of 2 CVS Pharmacist’s (one PIC and the other night RPH) dead like 6 months apart. Word around was MI and PNA but something was def fishy.
 
I know of 2. One I knew and had worked with him. He had a ton of debt and had lost his job at CVS around 2008. I think he might have lost his gf or something, but I heard he was really depressed and they found him dead. He was a diabetic and it appeared he had overdosed on insulin.

The other pharmacist that killed himself was working in a hospital. I heard this from another pharmacist. I believe the story goes that the wife was cheating on him or broke up or something. The pharmacist was really depressed and overdosed on a potent pain med.
 
Haven't heard anyone committed suicide yet in my company.

OP 3 suicides with CVS in the a district sounds iffy...
 
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RxVampire said:
This isn't a *** **** game of Clue
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Why not? Pharmacy clue sounds like a fun game.

I have never know any pharmacists who have killed themselves (although I suppose it's possible I've know pharmacists who died who just made their death look accidental.)
 
Grampus Mud said:
I worked with a RPH who at first report died of MI. But a year later word got out he had hung himself. It made sense considering he was 45-50 range and hence in the Sargasso Sea of a typical pharmacy career when one realizes it's never going to get better, the unending death march.

I'm afraid pharmacist suicide is more prevalent than we think. I'm surprised pharmacist suicide bombers haven't emerged yet. Might as well take down some evil school dean or corporate overlord down with you.
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"I'm surprised pharmacist suicide bombers haven't emerged yet. Might as well take down some evil school dean or corporate overlord down with you.["

Promoting violence on a pharmacy forum is not normal or mentally healthy. Please seek help.
 
Swishers said:
Why bother with the dark markets when you can just steal 3 or 4 of those bad boys from work? Retail pharmacy does have its perks.
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In studentdoctor.net this week in case you missed it:

-Promoting the theft of Class 2 opiates from work, a felony punishable by decades in prison.

-Condoning students attaching explosives to themselves and blowing themselves up with their deans/DM

-Stating that all CEOs of New Corporations are globalist pedophiles and that they should be harmed

Is this real life? Studentdoctor used to be my safe place but i've been feeling less comfy here with some of the recent sentiment expressed here.
 
Modest_anteater said:
In studentdoctor.net this week in case you missed it:

-Promoting the theft of Class 2 opiates from work, a felony punishable by decades in prison.

-Condoning students attaching explosives to themselves and blowing themselves up with their deans/DM

-Stating that all CEOs of New Corporations are globalist pedophiles and that they should be harmed

Is this real life? Studentdoctor used to be my safe place but i've been feeling less comfy here with some of the recent sentiment expressed here.
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How the FU*K is this your safe place when you have been banned multiple times?!
 
JamesL1585 said:
I feel like the Pharmacy forum in SDN has become the pharmacist career support therapy and treatment forum. It’s hella depressing.
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It's cathartic though. This is where the healing begins!
 
wucool33 said:
How the FU*K is this your safe place when you have been banned multiple times?!
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Hello. I noticed that you recently used a serious swear word. Is there something did to warrant this type of aggression? If there is please let me know so I can remedy it. Sorry if I offended you some how.
 
JamesL1585 said:
I feel like the Pharmacy forum in SDN has become the pharmacist career support therapy and treatment forum. It’s hella depressing.
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This is so true!! lol I actually come home after a long day at work and get straight on SDN because I feel so overwhelmed. It actually helps to read this is all over the country. Helpful, but not hopeful.
 
One time I tried to be uplifting to pharmacy managers on here... it didn’t end well. I didn’t take it too personal, just got sad that the consensus was so doom and gloom (and unsupportive). My pharmacy career couldn’t be going any better, but I took the path less traveled. I can’t be miserable for something I spent over a decade investing in... I refuse!

MV777 said:
This is so true!! lol I actually come home after a long day at work and get straight on SDN because I feel so overwhelmed. It actually helps to read this is all over the country. Helpful, but not hopeful.
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BackRowChi said:


It's still happening.
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This is a terrible tragedy which I would hope none of us have to experience either personally or through third hand.

I just want to say that I see a lot of the doom and gloom also. And with this, I certainly get down now and then also. I find hope in the fact that I have found some reasonable alternatives to the pharmacy profession - which means if I decide to never step into a pharmacy again I have a good backup plan. This way I never feel like my loans are too much to bare or that I have no options..

If anyone feels like this, I would seriously encourage you to start seeking Other opportunities.
 
Reminds me of the Walgreens store manager that took his own life in the stock room last summer... Rumor has it that it didn’t phase the DM in the slightest either.
 
I know CVS is stressful but so is Amazon warehouse where they get $15/hr. It's not like we're in the ocean working on an oil rig or inside a coal mine. Pharmacists are in a clean, enclosed, temperature controlled environment making $50+/hr. It's all about perspective.
 
mentos said:
I know CVS is stressful but so is Amazon warehouse where they get $15/hr. It's not like we're in the ocean working on an oil rig or inside a coal mine. Pharmacists are in a clean, enclosed, temperature controlled environment making $50+/hr. It's all about perspective.
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There is that aspect of the job that makes it stressful when you feel someone might get hurt as a result of a lapse in judgement on your part. Perhaps the stakes for someone in Amazon warehouse is not the same degree.
 
Xarelto-10 said:
There is that aspect of the job that makes it stressful when you feel someone might get hurt as a result of a lapse in judgement on your part. Perhaps the stakes for someone in Amazon warehouse is not the same degree.
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Honestly how often does a serious error occur in retail pharmacy? It's not like we're Marines in a war zone, air traffic controllers directing a flight of 200 passengers to safe landing, a surgeon performing open heart surgery or a structural engineer in charge of designing a bridge that millions will cross over for over 100 years.

This is CVS we're talking about. Most meds are refills or maintenance. You only see so many high risk specialty meds in a day. You get to text and listen to Spotify while at work.
 
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You also have the added stress of losing your job and never getting another one like it again. It seems like pharmacy is a bad career when it becomes convenient to what you have to say.
 
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