But what the hell, I'm not part of that rat race anymore. Here we go:
I go into work on Wed and we have been sent CVS "thank you" cards to be HAND WRITTEN by the pharmacist and given to the preselected ESI transfer patients when they pick up their RX's. It should say some of the following things:
-thanx for choosing CVS
-offering flu shots
-offering text messaging
-soon will have electronic signing at pickup
-CVS can have your entire profile and screening for drug interaction
-one on one patient /pharmacist counseling with expert drug info
-Blah blah blah blah blah
-Card is in an envelope and presented to patient at pickup
Bwwwaaaahhhhaaahhhaaaaaaa.....damn good thing they're not having the techs do this. Intensive pharmcotherapy such as this is exactly why I applied to pharmacy school.
By the way, I think this might be a good place for a little mash up with some words by Ron Snow, Manager, Professional & College Relations at CVS Caremark. He wrote these for the Indiana Pharmacist’s Alliance quarterly magazine and they come via the blog of Jim Plagakis. Jim gave me the break that got me into my gig at Drug Topics, which probably contributed to me getting fired from my last job. Which means I owe JP one huge-ass favor:
I am not sure when the change started, but over the past few years I have noticed an inferiority complex growing among community pharmacists. For many years the proud neighborhood pharmacist was known as the most trusted professional, but now he/she has turned into someone with self-image issues. Why has this change taken place? The way I see it, this is a complicated issue with no easy answer.
Now back to my CVS source:
In addition we are calling every one of the ESI patients to give them the same info that is one the card and then we fax all of the calls made daily to the DM...In addition to THAT, the techs pass out 20% off coupons to each patient targeted for purchases in the front thru September. In addition to THAT, we are to delay the transfers of all ESI patients' rxs for an hour and then call the patient to find out why they are transferring...I think you already know this...
Yeah....no easy answer at all as to where those self image issues could be coming from....after 6 years of busting your ass for a doctorate...huh....yup, no idea.
Back to Ron:
What prompted me to think about this image problem was a recent conversation I overheard between a couple of new grads that was centered on their career choices. The first grad talked excitedly about his choice of starting a career with a hospital where he was confident that he would eventually get the opportunity to move into a “clinical” position in the not too distant future. The second grad sheepishly commented that he was “just going to work for so-and-so pharmacy” because he did not want to give up his 3 years of service with the company. I did not hear any passion of excitement in his voice about his future career plan.
Why did not this recent grad not show more enthusiasm for his community pharmacy choice?
Not a clue did you make your readyfill quota. What could it be?
I believe one reason is the focus/pressure that schools are putting on grads to complete a residency...Unfortunately, I have been informed numerous times by interns that they are left to feel inferior if they choose not to pursue a residency.
Really? You know...Here's just a wacky theory....I'm just gonna....maybe I shouldn't...it's kinda crazy.....oh what the hell....maybe.....
....they are. Just a little bit ahead in their professional development than the person who got a doctorate so they could be ordered to fill out these all day.
Just a crazy idea. Back to my CVS Deep Pill:
Its all so crazy...and so demeaning to the employees and NO health care info given to patients at all...I am an old school RPh and it is killing me...
I know, but if those pharmacy schools would just let up on their pressure to put kids in residencies, everything would be fine.
.I know you feel the pain also
Felt the pain. And hoping never to feel it again. You have no idea how much I want this clinic to offer me a gig. I want. To be. A Pharmacist again.
Sigh.
30 comments:
I' pulling for you DM. You've paid your dues. I got out a couple of years ago and started at a local hospital. My co-workers comment on my cheerfulness and enthusiasm. If they only knew what I left behind...
Rite aid started this too about a week ago
Good luck with the new job! Sure wish i could find something like that.
My respect for pharmacists bloomed when drugs were prescribed for me. Having the drugs explained to me and getting clear and direct answers to my questions is
priceless to me.
In the majority of cases, I think the pharmacists know much more about the drugs and their interactions with other drugs than the doctors who prescribe them, and that can easily be true even when the doctor is a specialist. Perhaps specialists tend to have a bit of tunnel vision and only focus on the benefits/risks in relation to their specialty rather than the whole body.
A comment on another website by someone who had dangerously high blood pressure and was then prescribed Effexor, made me think of you, Drugmonkey. Drug companies, lame drug company studies, lame journals, and lame regulations are endangering people and making a mockery of medicine.
Is it a coincidence that the professionals with the best educations and understandings about drugs and their effects are being required to spend their time writing love notes to customers about corporate policy when it's their duty to inform patients about the effects and dangers of the drugs they've been prescribed?
I think not. It's not just for the indignity that's been heaped on pharmacists by box stores that pharmacists need to be able to do what they were trained to do.
Maybe retail pharmacists have such low self-esteem because as interns they were told by their district manager on a regular basis that they are replaceable? Or is that just my district manager that takes pleasure in reminding interns of that?
I was wondering when you would get to the thank you cards and phone calls. You forget to mention the "gift baskets". And the write up if these tasks are not done. Can someone find me a pimp?
Good luck with the job search. Love your blog and looking forward to your next book!
let's say you're a new customer to cvs that happens to have express scripts (this isn't just people who transfer from other chains, other cvs stores as well) upon filling your first prescription you can expect in the next week to: receive a text when it's ready, a phone call the next day from the pharmacist, and an automated call twice a day until you pick up your meds.
one would think it stops there, but you'd be wrong. after you pick it up, you can look forward to our "random" survey you'll be guilted into calling, the automated flu shot call, the "random" corporate survey call, a call from a pharmacy staff member checking up on how our service was, and a card handed or mailed to you reminding you of how much you mean to us.
you'd think it's over, but you'd be wrong again. a few weeks later, you'll received a personal call asking if you want to fill your meds, an automated call saying your meds are ready to fill, and an automated call telling you that the meds you didn't order are ready to be picked up.
cvs has turned all of its pharmacy employees into needy, clingy one night stands. "do you like me? did i do everything you wanted? i'll text you! maybe i'll just come over now, if you want. no? don't come over? okay i'll be right over. i know you'll be happy to see me once i'm there. love me! love me! why don't you love me?! i'll do whatever you want! up the bum? sure! i guess that would be okay...hey, who is that? i can't believe you're cheating on me with that wags skank! why? she's more convenient?! she takes credit cards over the phone? not as clingy? who's clingy? i'm not clingy!"
Hey good luck!
Every year (sometimes twice a year) I have to retake HIPAA training that tells me accessing PHI other than what is required to fill a prescription is an unauthorized disclosure. I don't know how they are generating these ESI patient lists without directly violating the pharmacy's privacy policy.
Wow. I surprised they don't expect the pharmacists to stand over the patients to make sure they (the patients) take their meds, and hold their hands when crossing the street. This is sad, and pathetic. Unfortunately many many new grads will be exposed to this, and will have to deal with it because they owe some 200K to someone for their education.
As a note (warning) to any potential Chain Druggists out there...this is about 5 years before it gets REALLY bad....Take heed or suffer the consequences
Peter Tietjens
wow had it not been for the Paper pushing Poop bags at WAG handing out ESI patients to other pharmacies this really wouldn't be an issue right now. However because of those same Paper pushing poop bags have now seen the mistake they made and have now corrected it they have to fight to get back those patients they handed to the other pharmacies.
A count down on a electronic reader board counting down the days to welcome ESI patients?....Really! But CVS is worried about those patients packing up and moving back.
Cvs....spot on........embarrassing.
I see lots of criticism of Rite Aid, CVS and Walgreens. How bad does Walmart treat their pharmacists? My husband and I each are on regular medication that means we'll be visting the pharmacy monthly for probably the rest of our lives. We use Walmart. Are we supporting a company that mistreats its pharmacists as well? It would be less convenient, but we could probably find a better place if we had to. Thanks for the input!
"clingy needy one-night stand" that's the best summation ever! you forgot to add I'll give you a gift card if you talk dirty to me.
I'm a pharmacist at Walmart. They treat me very, very well. This kind of shit would NEVER happen there. I'm paid well, I close my pharmacy for lunch every day, and I get lots of vacation time that I'm able to use. I also have a fantastic computer system, and the things I need to do my job.
Sure, there are downsides, like no domestic partner insurance, but I have honestly never worked for an employer that treated me better. I've worked for them for 6 years, and I hope to work there for another 30+.
I am now receiving emails from the district office to my home computer. The email addresses of every pharmacist in the district as well as my own as cc'd. Does this mean that this email in no longer proprietary and is now my personal property? Is it just me or does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?
I understand the frustration that comes with the ridiculous amount of pressure put on retail pharmacists. Yes, our places of employment are understaffed, and yes, our companies pile so many petty demands on us that it's hard not to get bitter.
That being said, if I were a pharmacy owner, you can bet I would be spending countless hours writing hand-written notes in an effort to butter up my customers. Just because I have a pharmD doesn't mean I'm above customer service. Businesses thrive on this. No matter what services a company offers, many people want nothing to do with said services if they can't have a fiducial relationship with the workers.
I know this is harder to visualize when you work for a chain; that same sense of pride in ownership doesn't exist, and personalized notes seem to be just another item to add to the growing list of duties. At the same time, it's a little bit ridiculous that a retail pharmacist in a chain setting can't see that their livlihood comes from the success of their company. If CVS goes down, all of those pharmacists can't be absorbed into the field, at least not immediately.
If you want to succeed, your company has to be successful. I feel like that's a really simple concept.
anonymous above is the guys who keeps reading your blog from corporate... the word fiducial was a dead giveaway
Fiducial? Who uses that word? We have sacrificed our profession at the altar of "service". We are less than serfs in the great fiefdom. No one wants the chains to "go down". We only want to take back our humanity.
To Anonymous 12:02 - I am not a pharmacist. What I am (and my husband as well) is a pharmacy customer. We are both on meds that we will likely be on for the rest of our lives. That means I am developing n interest in how pharmacies operate. Neither me nor my husband would care a bit about receiving hand written notes from our pharmacist! It makes no difference to our choice of pharmacies. What does make a difference are things like, when I had a question about a possible reaction to my increased thyroid medication, I could go to my pharmacist and talk to him right away. Yes, customer service matters. Had the pharmacist been rude or condescending when I asked my questions, that would have been memorable in a negative way, to say the least. The fact is, he was polite and helpful. I will remember that for far longer than a stupid note.
Furthermore, notes to either my husband or myself would not just be pointless, they would actually be down-right annoying. I get enough pointless paper in my life, a note from the pharmacist (saying what? Thanks? He says that each month when I get my new pills.) is just one more thing to put in the recycling. I wouldn't blame the poor guy if I got notes from him (my boss makes me do stupid stuff too.), but it adds NOTHING to the customer service experience. I fyou can't listen to the pharmacists, listen to a customer. It is much better customer service to keep my pharmacist free to come to the counter and answer my questions than to chain him to the desk writing notes I won't read.
Thank you! More often than not, corporate level personnel think we are just lazy and complaining when we try to tell them that something doesn't work or is a waste of time. Maybe they'll take notice when a customer says it for us.
I read that post by Jim. The corporate suit is stuck in some time warp. Retail and community pharmacy is drowning in the major chains ocean of patients to call and kiss their butts to all the paperwork that just keeps piling up. I agree with one commenter that retail will kill us in 5 to 10 years!
I suppose the silver lining to standing over patients as they take their meds is that we would have fewer noncompliant patients... I am currently a PharmD student in my second year and I can't even look at my loan profile because I don't want to see that number, and I still have two years to go.
I have no comments about the situation with Wal-Mart, as I am only a second year pharmacy student, but I did an internship at a local independent pharmacy over the summer. Compared to my time spent in Walgreens, Publix, and CVS for various school requirements, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience there. No corporate busy work for the pharmacists and techs, much more personalized care for patients, and this particular pharmacy offered compounding services, delivery/mail, medical supply services, accepted most insurance plans, and honored the Wal-Mart $4 list. It may take some searching, but if you can find an independent pharmacy that fits your needs, I would suggest supporting a local business instead of a corporation.
Why can't we do something to stop this! I have been a pharmacist at a chain u have all mentioned and every year I think it can't get any worse and every year it has! I am now so miserable and so stuck (student loans to pay back). Why is there no legislation to protect us and customers? 12 hour days no breaks one pharmacist when there should be 2 only have enough hours for 2 techs when I could use 4!! It's a super dangerous environment for us and the customers
Hello. I am a pharmacist who would like to share my experiences with CVS.
The shifts officially were 14 hours long with no breaks. Unofficially, the shift were 15 hours(one of the busiest store+ really short on techs - could never leave on time). Only a couple of times a day I was able to run to the bathroom. Food? Not a chance. the store was way too busy and with not much tech help.
CVS management is being run by the people with no medical, or sometimes no any higher education whatsoever. My store manager was a high school graduate, who worked for CVS for 5 years, before being promoted to a manager(nobody wanted to take the store). His plan was to become a DM. He complained that: my register racks in front of he pharmacy were not perfectly aligned, therefore customer service suffered. He also expected me to watch my techs so that they call me to beg customers to call the survey number and to leave good feedback.
Why my DM fired me? Simple. Our customer satisfaction score was 83 while CVS expects 90+. Our KPM new prescription pick up was at 58%, while the expectation was 65% (that's 0 points on the score). People only picked up their meds when they got paid. However, according to DM, it was only because the pharmacist did not make good conversations. The expectations for new script pickup and refill reminder calls were to make 3-4 phone calls, no messages. At was to the point, when patients would become extremely frustrated with the amount of phone calls from CVS they were receiving.
If anyone here thinks that they are a medical professional..just try this
"sorry, no smoking in the drive-up"
Peter tietjens
You're drinking, AND trying to hand out too much poisoned Kool-Aid Mr. Romney, or is it maybe former brand manager at whatever big chain that is now a "Pharmacy Director"???
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