Walgreen's new power system

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I'll take a stab. The power system is used to give the pharmacist more time with patients. This is done by having prescriptions that are scheduled to be picked up on the next day filled at another location (warehouse). They will then be shipped to the stores for the customers to pick up. This should potentially free up about 1/3 of prescriptions filled at 24 hour stores. If I am not mistaken they will also take out the phones which will be answered elsewhere. If you are keeping up with the so called "management rewiring" then you could only imagine that pharmacy technicians may be at risk of losing their jobs or asked to work at these warehouses. The cost of the power system is $400 million which will be covered by the rewiring that is estimated to save the company $1 billion by 2011. I think it is a great idea but it may be a hard pill to swallow for some.
 
Already a thread on this. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=555901

Basically there are two threats to pharmacy.
1) Surplus of pharmacy schools--new schools keep on opening up.
2) POWER

I am just hoping that I get into South this fall and graduate 2012 so I can grab me a spot in retail before they are all gone. There are going to be people on here that think there is a huge shortage but thats simply not true. There are a million floaters at Walgreens and Target has a waiting list of pharmacists. And there is no such thing as a sign on bonus anymore...does that answer your question now?
 
This is a response from a Pharmacist when I asked her the same question. This person is ALREADY a pharmacist for many years so the information is valid. 🙂 This is what the pharmacist said:

The reason why some people think there will not be a shortage is because many baby boomer pharmacists will retire. But, if you look around when you go into a pharmacy I don't see anyone who is old, do you? Where are these old pharmacists?

When I was at Walgreens picking up my prescription the other day, it was hectic. Several cars in the drive-thru, a line at the counter, and a beauty advisor helping out at the cash registers. This is because of Power. They cut all their staff. Patients have realized this and more and more are choosing to wait for their meds. They didn't have time to enter my insurance information, so I just used my discount card. Eventually, Walgreens wants to use techs for verification. I don't think the state will approve it, but that's the way they want to go.

Though, I still see new Walgreens and CVS stores being built, both near my house (Tampa area) and my apartment (Orlando area). I asked about working at the Walgreens near my house 3 years ago before I was a pharmacist and they told me that they already had the store staffed. So, every store you see being built already has pharmacists lined up to work there. There will be openings at their old stores and they will promote floaters to those positions. The point is that after they decided to put a Walgreens there, it took them 3 years to go ahead and build it. That's a long time. And only 2 pharmacist positions will open up because of it. Retail is a dead-end job.

Hospitals are also cutting staff. Because of the economy, people are putting off surgeries. Every hospital is cutting hours. One of the hospitals that I do order entry for, lost an entire pharmacist position. My job is secure because my salary is shared by several hospitals. This is the way things are going to go. When the pharmacy closes for the night, orders still need to be processed. My group processes all those orders and the hospitals don't need to hire any pharmacists for their overnight shifts.

I suggest that you do a residency after pharmacy school. Things will be competitive and you need to have an edge. I'm lucky that I got a hospital job without one, but I also had to move and get an apartment. I love my job though, it's totally worth it.
 
SHC1984 said:
Hospitals are also cutting staff. Because of the economy, people are putting off surgeries. Every hospital is cutting hours. One of the hospitals that I do order entry for, lost an entire pharmacist position. My job is secure because my salary is shared by several hospitals. This is the way things are going to go. When the pharmacy closes for the night, orders still need to be processed. My group processes all those orders and the hospitals don't need to hire any pharmacists for their overnight shifts.
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Shoot, my hospital has been trying to hire a new full-time pharmacist forEVER. We've been short for six months since our last one moved away. We absolutely cannot find anyone and the two resumes we got from a recruiter were for new grads who weren't yet licensed.

JCAHO continues to up the ante on accreditation requirements and for several of their goals the only way to meet them is to add pharmacist hours. The overnight pharmacy can't do everything and I wouldn't be surprised in 5-10 years if JCAHO tries to eliminate it and insist there be a pharmacist on-site 24 hours a day.

I haven't seen people putting off surgeries where I work, we are still as busy as ever. Some things are elective but people aren't going to just stop getting sick.

I'm sure staffing is different region to region.. but I don't see the nationwide shortage getting relieved any time soon.
 
I think theres a whole thread thats like 7 pages long talking about the shortage. Bottom line, there is no overall shortage but rather localize ones that have been around for as long as there has been pharmacist. After all, most people want to live where its exciting as oppose to the middle of nowhere.
 
I think everyone is mistaken on what the power system is. Unless I misunderstood the question.
 
Is this supposed to be similar to the CVS Ready Fill system, which automatically places refill orders like 3 days in advance.

I actually like the readyfill system because it gives you 3 days to work on any insurance issues, you can do the work during the downtime, and you have time to call up the physicians office for refills.

I absolutely hate how its always the same people who come for their refills on the weekends when they have no refills left.
 
TTUMike said:
I think everyone is mistaken on what the power system is. Unless I misunderstood the question.
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I just heard a lot of pharmacists were lay off and have NO jobs in florida b/c of POWER there is very little demand for pharmacists. I heard this from already practicing pharmacists so it should be valid. I hope this is not the case but its what I heard...

I am just upset b/c there are no more sign on bonuses!!! 🙁 I was hoping to get one to pay of my loans...oh well...

I hope there will still be opens at Target when I graduate....kinda want to work for them. 😉
 
Sparda29 said:
Is this supposed to be similar to the CVS Ready Fill system, which automatically places refill orders like 3 days in advance.

I actually like the readyfill system because it gives you 3 days to work on any insurance issues, you can do the work during the downtime, and you have time to call up the physicians office for refills.

I absolutely hate how its always the same people who come for their refills on the weekends when they have no refills left.
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Walgreens has had that for 10 years.

This is completely different.
 
No we have the automatic refill...What power has done is that anything that is for the next day or later is sent to a central location, ours is in Orlando and then shipped to the stores the next day. Also the majority of phone calls are answered by a call center, to keep the call volume down, which it hasn't seemed to do yet... And the prescriptions are scanned in then typed by the central location, verified by pharmacists and then allowed to be filled in the store. It is suposed to allow for more patient consultation from the pharmacist, but in my store I haven't seen that. So were still waiting for the kinks to be worked out!
 
just south florida...the rest of FL still have needs for pharmacists, and this whole lay off thing only affects retail, there are still alot of jobs for clinical pharmds.
 
Giant Eagle and kroger's pharmacies in ohio have a "central fill" system that processes refills for the next day. For the most part this system works out to be very efficient but there are some kinks to it. For example, what if a customer says they will pick it up tomorrow but later changes their mind? Or sometimes customers will say "i'll be back tomorrow" and the tech will just send it to central fill. Then the next day the customer comes in at 8 am and the central fill order does not come until 11 am. It's not too bad if the customer just needs one rx reversed but if it is a bundle of them then it can be a pain.

Also we have had customers specifically request never to have their prescriptions filled by central fill because they use a different brand generic and a different vial size.

95% of the prescriptions filled through central fill are problem-free. It is just that 5% that gives me a headache.
 
I'd agree that retail is going to be dying out as more people go to mail order and machines and pharmacy techs take over more responsibilities. But at the same time I think there will always be jobs for pharmacists and this is actually a great thing for the profession and I think it is good that retail pharmacists are dying out. Retail pharmacist are usually over educated for the job they are performing and turned into drive thru attendants by big chains. I'm not trying to be cynical because I do work in a chain retail pharmacy but I think a lot of the things going on in retail right now is bad for pharmacy. I also work at a hospital pharmacy and they always have openings for pharmacists. With more insurance companies paying for MTM, many new opportunities will be opening up for pharmacists. Just like the common question about the trends in pharmacy I believe the trend is moving towards pharmaceutical care pharmacists and more pharmacists working in a 'clinical' setting. And this is good for pharmacy and health care. With new opportunities opening up for pharmacists I don't see their being a surplus of pharmacists anytime soon. Not to mention that from what I've seen many of the female pharmacists being graduated often end up starting a family and are only working half time (just a generalization). I'd say that a pharmacy school who graduates 100 students every year will only be graduating maybe 60 or 70 full time pharmacists. Hope my rant wasn't too off topic 🙂
 
Just out of curiosity and concern; which branch of pharmacy seems to have the highest/best job security? Maybe...from now till 10-20 years time.
 
Electrode said:
Just out of curiosity and concern; which branch of pharmacy seems to have the highest/best job security? Maybe...from now till 10-20 years time.
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Thats a good question and I think, at least, its kind of hard to tell right now. No one knows exactly where retail is going to be in ten years. My friend who is a pd1 thinks retail will eventually be obselete as pharmacy will be mostly automated but I think he may be going a little too far. Also, although state law doesn't allow it, some of the work pharmacists do like proofreading scripts could be done just as easily by a good tech (pharmacists really aren't trained to be proofreaders). I'd say hospital pharmacy is the best right now. There have been some cut back with the economy but you can only cut back so far in a hospital. Techs and automation also aren't able to take as much of the work from hospital pharmacists. But right now it seems like pretty much all pharmacists have pretty good job security even in retail. You still, depending on the state I think, are required to have 1 pharmacist for every 2 techs working.
 
I really hope retail stays around. Unless you don't have any loans at all...I don't see how anyone with 100K in loans can AFFORD to take a hospital job. Your monthly payments on your loans are going to be so high that you will HAVE to make 6 figures in order to make payments. 🙄
 
I have a question for someone who is actually on POWER, as my area is due to be getting it soon. Is it all new software? i.e. is it still IC+ and TeamRx or is it something completely different? That's probably the thing that I'm most worried about, having to learn a whole new software set. It took me so long to get comfortable with the current one...
Also I know we get new phones but I have heard new computers too. Is that true?
 
With power our workflow will be totally different, closing the in-window, techs filling and bagging the RXs, the pharmacist up at the out-window for more patient interaction and consultation where they will open the bag and show the meds to the patient only if it is a new RX but not for refills. My store hasn't gone power yet but our pharmacy manager has been gone this whole week because she's attending meetings/info sessions on power. I'm a little scared about who's going to get laid off... we're also getting rid of having an overnight pharmacist, they're trying to find openings for pharmacy managers since I think it's not such a desirable position. Anyways, I just got certified and am in the works of hopefully becoming a senior tech. Hope this helps me keep my job 🙄 but it also would be nice to get into pharmacy school this year and not have to worry about a job come August, be living off those loans lol
 
danado said:
I have a question for someone who is actually on POWER, as my area is due to be getting it soon. Is it all new software? i.e. is it still IC+ and TeamRx or is it something completely different? That's probably the thing that I'm most worried about, having to learn a whole new software set. It took me so long to get comfortable with the current one...
Also I know we get new phones but I have heard new computers too. Is that true?
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I haven't heard anything about new software, but new phones sure would be nice lol.
 
hondagirl86 said:
With power our workflow will be totally different, closing the in-window, techs filling and bagging the RXs, the pharmacist up at the out-window for more patient interaction and consultation where they will open the bag and show the meds to the patient only if it is a new RX but not for refills. My store hasn't gone power yet but our pharmacy manager has been gone this whole week because she's attending meetings/info sessions on power. I'm a little scared about who's going to get laid off... we're also getting rid of having an overnight pharmacist, they're trying to find openings for pharmacy managers since I think it's not such a desirable position. Anyways, I just got certified and am in the works of hopefully becoming a senior tech. Hope this helps me keep my job 🙄 but it also would be nice to get into pharmacy school this year and not have to worry about a job come August, be living off those loans lol
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hondagirl if you don't mind my asking what part of the state are you in? i'm in east central fl (space coast) and wondering if you know more of a timeline than we do. any time we ask district staff they are really vague about it, yet they keep pushing stuff like "circle the doctor on the hard copy" in preparation for it...
anyway yeah i was feeling the same way...worried that i might get laid off, especially because i'm only part time. i told my rxm this and she said that she would get rid of her lazy workers before she got rid of me, lol. hopefully she has as much control over the situation as she thinks she does.
i have another question for you since you're kind of in the same boat as me (applying for pharmacy school for fall). i know at least our area is pretty saturated with pharmacists, but have you heard if they have any plans to cut the educational assistance program for pharmacy students? i was kind of planning on using that...
 
For Wags, there are two educatonal assistance programs: one is for anyone who has worked as an Intern and agrees to work for them for a year for each grant given, and the other one is for shortage areas.
One year in the mid-90s, things were so bad that Wags dissolved the contracts of the people who took the money.
 
I'm a P1 and work at Walgreen's about 10-12 hrs a week. I think I understand the thoughts behind the POWER system, to get the pharmacist out more with the patients and utilizing his skills for counseling. But I'd be uncomfortable with a prescription coming in to my pharmacy to be sold that we had nothing to do with and then promising a patient that it was right. I know it would be checked somewhere but still a little weary of it not being filled/checked with us. Also, hopefully the corporations won't try and push the Board of Pharmacies to let Techs verify, etc. That just opens up a huge hole for liability.
 
danado said:
hondagirl if you don't mind my asking what part of the state are you in? i'm in east central fl (space coast) and wondering if you know more of a timeline than we do. any time we ask district staff they are really vague about it, yet they keep pushing stuff like "circle the doctor on the hard copy" in preparation for it...
anyway yeah i was feeling the same way...worried that i might get laid off, especially because i'm only part time. i told my rxm this and she said that she would get rid of her lazy workers before she got rid of me, lol. hopefully she has as much control over the situation as she thinks she does.
i have another question for you since you're kind of in the same boat as me (applying for pharmacy school for fall). i know at least our area is pretty saturated with pharmacists, but have you heard if they have any plans to cut the educational assistance program for pharmacy students? i was kind of planning on using that...
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Hey danado- I'm in Jacksonville...I also don't know when power will go into effect, we have been given some timeline sheets as a list of things we are supposed to know and do when that day comes but idk when it will be. The district office wouldn't even tell our overnight pharmacist either :/ And I haven't heard anything about cutting the educational assistance program...I sure hope they don't though!! every little bit counts
 
The power system is a good system since it provides pharmacists more time to interact with customers. I really like the ideas of it since as a future pharmacist, I want this profession to involve much more in patient consultant, and not just selling medication like a machinary.

I do not think this power will be a threat to new pharmacists because they still need pharmacists to handle such a large prescriptions everyday. It does not matter where you move pharmacists to, you still need to have the same or more pharmacist to handle the same or more prescriptions. And with this system, we actually need more pharmacists because a pharmacist takes some of his time, when he used to just sell medication, to consult customers.

For example, assume we have 1000 prescriptions to be filled in FLorida everyday. You need total 10 pharmacists. Now they move 5 of them to CENTER location in Orlando. The other 5 are supposed to take some of thier time to consult customers. So, with only five refill pharmacist handle 1000 prescription instead of 10 (assume all customers want to pick up the next day.) We need to find more pharmacists.

With this system, walgreen will save a lot of money by not sending medications to every single store, and customers will have more time with pharmacist. The market job is still at balance. One little thing that might affect a phamacist in store is when hour is cut off because all customers want to pick it up the next day ( assuming). Since walgreen opens 24/7, this will be fixed when the economic is getting better.

However, the disavantage of this system is when a pharmacist who has family in Miami with house and everything, he can't just move to Orlando. So he decides to quit, and complaint. Technicians will be on trouble since thier demands is less with this system. Patients will have to yell because they need medications now when we do not have it in stock.

It takes courage to change, but only Change will brings a new breath to Pharmacy profession.
 
If its such a good system that will help pharmds in the long run, why is wags laying off lots pf pharmds and techs by the end of the fiscal year. they are planning to cut 20 percent of jobs....and the shady thing is that they keep their own people in the dark....
my friend is a newbie, just graduated last year, he's been asking all the time about whats gonna happen to him because he is new and the district manager has been avoiding answering his queestions....to me that is being a scumbag of a company...
and right now there is a hiring freeze, not only wags but all the retail pharmacies in South fl....A friend of mine in pharm school in nova was informed by her teachers that there will be not many jobs if any left for future grduates in south florida...so this power thing is def not gonna help that
 
qwead said:
If its such a good system that will help pharmds in the long run, why is wags laying off lots pf pharmds and techs by the end of the fiscal year. they are planning to cut 20 percent of jobs....and the shady thing is that they keep their own people in the dark....
my friend is a newbie, just graduated last year, he's been asking all the time about whats gonna happen to him because he is new and the district manager has been avoiding answering his queestions....to me that is being a scumbag of a company...
and right now there is a hiring freeze, not only wags but all the retail pharmacies in South fl....A friend of mine in pharm school in nova was informed by her teachers that there will be not many jobs if any left for future grduates in south florida...so this power thing is def not gonna help that
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Lets just hope POWER doesn't spread out of Florida. I kinda need a job after I graduate...🙄
 
It already did arizona is starting power already and I've heard wags plan to do a nationwide globalization ina few years...it just depends on the states that will pass the bill...wags is a multibillion company that can payoff any legislator
 
qwead said:
It already did arizona is starting power already and I've heard wags plan to do a nationwide globalization ina few years...it just depends on the states that will pass the bill...wags is a multibillion company that can payoff any legislator
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Well I just hope I have a job when I graduate...preferably Costco, Target or Walgreens. Doesn't matter. I think retail will still be around within the next five years and hopfully I will graduate by then and can get a job before its all GONE. There are more and more people graduating each year...the faster you graduate the more chances of finding a job. And the quicker you start making $$$. 😉
 
genesis09 said:
For Wags, there are two educatonal assistance programs: one is for anyone who has worked as an Intern and agrees to work for them for a year for each grant given, and the other one is for shortage areas.
One year in the mid-90s, things were so bad that Wags dissolved the contracts of the people who took the money.
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That was going to be my next question... if they don't cut the educational assistance programs, and end up making to many contracts would they just let me off the hook lol. I don't really want to leave WAGs but I mean, reading about all these changes they're going to be making -- POWER being of the greatest immediate concern -- and the whole Rewiring for Growth initiative, just makes me a little wary about my future with them. I feel that they are a good company, and, at least from what I've seen, they've got their heads in the right places. I guess we'll see...
Like SHC right now I'm just hoping I'll have a job when I graduate. If I have to move to some hillbilly town in Kansas I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world, lol.
 
I think saying you're just hoping for a job is a little extreme. Jobs are still plentiful around here.
 
Walgreens did not fire anyone at the store level. If they fire the overnight pharmacist, that means it will not be a 24 hour pharmacy, anymore.
 
qwead said:
If its such a good system that will help pharmds in the long run, why is wags laying off lots pf pharmds and techs by the end of the fiscal year. they are planning to cut 20 percent of jobs....and the shady thing is that they keep their own people in the dark....
my friend is a newbie, just graduated last year, he's been asking all the time about whats gonna happen to him because he is new and the district manager has been avoiding answering his queestions....to me that is being a scumbag of a company...
and right now there is a hiring freeze, not only wags but all the retail pharmacies in South fl....A friend of mine in pharm school in nova was informed by her teachers that there will be not many jobs if any left for future grduates in south florida...so this power thing is def not gonna help that
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They have not laid off pharmacists yet. I have heard about it too. I also heard that the volume of precriptions have dropped. It never happened before. This is obviously due to recessive economic. We can't do anything but keep studying, and see what will happen by the time we graduate. If you can't find any job, we will file bankrupcy, and no payment. :laugh:
 
5minutes said:
They have not laid off pharmacists yet. I have heard about it too. I also heard that the volume of precriptions have dropped. It never happened before. This is obviously due to recessive economic. We can't do anything but keep studying, and see what will happen by the time we graduate. If you can't find any job, we will file bankrupcy, and no payment. :laugh:
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You can't ever file bankrupcy on student loans. You WILL be paying back every cent and if you died I am sure they will go after your spouse or kids for the money. 😉
 
hondagirl86 said:
With power our workflow will be totally different, closing the in-window, techs filling and bagging the RXs, the pharmacist up at the out-window for more patient interaction and consultation where they will open the bag and show the meds to the patient only if it is a new RX but not for refills. My store hasn't gone power yet but our pharmacy manager has been gone this whole week because she's attending meetings/info sessions on power. I'm a little scared about who's going to get laid off... we're also getting rid of having an overnight pharmacist, they're trying to find openings for pharmacy managers since I think it's not such a desirable position. Anyways, I just got certified and am in the works of hopefully becoming a senior tech. Hope this helps me keep my job 🙄 but it also would be nice to get into pharmacy school this year and not have to worry about a job come August, be living off those loans lol
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The store I work at is on full Power. It has its good qualities and definatly has bad ones. We didnt get new computer systems, its still IC+, but we did get a new phone system. In my store, patients call the store and get a call center which is located in Orlando. This is to relieve some of the phone calls that the pharmacists have to take throughout the day. The call center is supposed to send the call to the store if the person asks, but they never do, so the patient comes in complaining to us because they couldnt get thru to us. As far as filling, the techs fill the prescriptions, and then the pharmacist verifies. In my store its still pretty similar to how we used to fill. We fill and then put the drug, pamphlet, and bag in a tote and give it to the pharmacist. We also don't type the prescriptions anymore. And a lot of the time, they are verified by a pharmacist in the central location, not the actual store pharmacist. And any refill or rx that is put in for the next day or later, is filled at a central location and shipped to us the next morning. It could potentially work but it still has a lot of kinks that need to be workied out!!!!
 
Kaytee1006 said:
The store I work at is on full Power. It has its good qualities and definatly has bad ones. We didnt get new computer systems, its still IC+, but we did get a new phone system. In my store, patients call the store and get a call center which is located in Orlando. This is to relieve some of the phone calls that the pharmacists have to take throughout the day. The call center is supposed to send the call to the store if the person asks, but they never do, so the patient comes in complaining to us because they couldnt get thru to us. As far as filling, the techs fill the prescriptions, and then the pharmacist verifies. In my store its still pretty similar to how we used to fill. We fill and then put the drug, pamphlet, and bag in a tote and give it to the pharmacist. We also don't type the prescriptions anymore. And a lot of the time, they are verified by a pharmacist in the central location, not the actual store pharmacist. And any refill or rx that is put in for the next day or later, is filled at a central location and shipped to us the next morning. It could potentially work but it still has a lot of kinks that need to be workied out!!!!
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Okay the ONLY advantage of this system is reducing phone calls which is great. I still DO NOT understand why people keep on call me for refills when they can EASILY dial ONE to refill their prescriptions over the phone or go online to refill their prescriptions. I wish people will just use some common sense...when they call us and hear "dial one to refill your prescriptions" willl DIAL ONE!! I don't think its that hard to push ONE with your fingers...!!!!

However the other things I don't like. I like filling and typing F1 for my store and other people's stores. It will be boring if I just came in with nothing to type or fill. I can't just stand around doing nothing...
 
Umm... I actually work at "Power."

and...

Yes, they cut hours in the store, but Walgreens is a great company and offered pharmacists that were close to retiring the opportunity to retire early, earn a year's worth of salary, and after one year, they may choose to work part-time for the company. Also, although they are cutting hours, pharmacists have the opportunity to work from home verifying prescriptions on the computer that the company provides.
 
Some people do not like to deal with the automated prescription renewal systems, and that is why they call the pharmacy directly. There have been times when the system has transferred people to the pharmacy when there is a problem.
 
Power pharmacy would be extremely helpful if the most of the customers do not mind picking their medications the next day. However, for the customers that want to wait, it harder to fill medication through power because they require double verification.
 
SHC1984 said:
Okay the ONLY advantage of this system is reducing phone calls which is great. I still DO NOT understand why people keep on call me for refills when they can EASILY dial ONE to refill their prescriptions over the phone or go online to refill their prescriptions. I wish people will just use some common sense...when they call us and hear "dial one to refill your prescriptions" willl DIAL ONE!! I don't think its that hard to push ONE with your fingers...!!!!

However the other things I don't like. I like filling and typing F1 for my store and other people's stores. It will be boring if I just came in with nothing to type or fill. I can't just stand around doing nothing...
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Yeah I used to complain about this too, but then I realized that I work in an area where about 96% of the population is over 150 years old. They fear technology. So now I just deal with it lol. And when they do try touchtone it always gets transferred to me because they cannot read the number ("WHY DID YOU PEOPLE CIRCLE THE NUMBER ON THE BOTTLE??? I CAN'T READ THE RX NUMBER ANY MORE!" "Ma'am, it's a controlled substance, we have to double count it, circle the quantity and initial to ensure that you get the right quantity...") or because they typed it in one number off and tried to fill some other persons oxy... So yeah we've just gotten used to taking refills verbally.
 
I found out that our store will be transitioning into power on thursday 2/5. dun dun dun... :xf:
 
hondagirl86 said:
I found out that our store will be transitioning into power on thursday 2/5. dun dun dun... :xf:
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dang that soon? last night we were having a lot of computer issues (i.e. comm errors like every two minutes) and i told the rph that they were probably switching us to power in the morning lol. my rxm said between april and june. like i said, they're being vague as they can be lol.
let me know how it goes hondagirl...
 
good luck switching to power, there was a lot of system issues when my store switched about 6 months ago... let us know how you like it...lol:laugh:
 
This is an interesting thread - I found out about POWER by reading here. Talked about it with my pharmacy manager & the way we both see it is unless Walgreens closes stores or cuts a lot of 24-hour stores back to 10-14 hours, there will not be a big reduction in pharmacists AND they will eventually be doing more of what we are taught to do in school [UF].

However, having worked at Medco most of 2008, I can tell you that central locations and compartmentalization of job skills are MUCH more efficient and will likely reduce the number of technicians Walgreens needs. By maybe 20% for the same # of sales. A lot of the techs they've had to hire - with new store openings - were to keep up with the staffing for outdated workflow ideas.

If you've seen a few different ways to dispense, you start to scratch your head at all the scurringing to fill scrips for a 4:30 pickup while also filing reports, ringing up cosmetics & candy, answering the most inane phone calls that won't result in a sale, INTERSTORING ALL OVER TOWN, all the while trying not to make a mistake.

For me [W tech for 18 months, Medco entry tech for 9 months, W intern now] it looks like the typical W store now puts its techs in error-prone situations way too often. An idea like POWER [assume it works as advertised some day] will pull more techs and RPh's into jobs where they can think straight and produce good work.

With the expected 2-year recession, you can plan on less store openings and fewer 24-hour stores. It just makes sense if less people buy less drugs through 2010 or 2011. It's like now with Thanksgiving and Christmas - most W pharmacies are closed. If you're Mr. W would you pay your pharmacists double [2x50 per hour] to sell half as many scrips? No.

They teach us a lot about pharmacy trends and overall I'd say - don't go by a few stories, look at statistics. If you graduate in 2012 or later you're in great shape. Just not in the center of the city you went to school - those jobs will be saturated with applicants no matter what. Also I will say that W is very good to their interns, and having 4PD students sign upon graduation is still a very high company priority.
 
i used to love power, now i hate it. i personally know MULTIPLE pharmacists that have been laid off. with power, many stores eliminate the midshift pharmacist unfortunately.


...i'm not looking to go back to work tomorrow. i haven't worked since november when we were in phase one, now we're full power. but since i'm done all my rotations, i have nothing to do but study for teh naplex and work til graduation in may.

i hope i get my residency position so i can market myself better and hopefully get a hosp position full time and verify from home for wag part time.
 
Well since power, walgreens in my area has pretty much eliminated part time techs, and significantly cut back hours for the full time staff. The one store located near me has 40 hours for 3 techs. All of this to hire more people for power...how crazy is that. I was told that I could either work in photo for photos pay and when the pharmacy needed me, I could help them out. Or start looking for another job..... I choose looking for another job, because walgreens is not what it used to be!!!!
 
Wow, I never knew that the power system exists in Wag FL. Seems like it would be much different than working at Wag in other states!!!
If I move to FL, it will be difficult for me for sure.
 
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