For the last two weeks or so I have been becoming acclimated to working in a Walgreens pharmacy. After almost ten years at independents, I figure I would begin to develop an understanding for the other side of the retail table.
And I finally get it.
I understand why they typically cannot fill a prescription in a timely manner.
I understand why pharmacists stated they are overworked on a daily basis.
I understand why people say pharmacy is not fun on a regular basis.
Why? Because WAGs workflow sucks.
I'm all for preventing errors. I have no qualms about double checking. The number of fail safes the pharmacy has, however, is broaderline overkill.
You cannot accomplish anything in a timely manner. Enter a prescription, it has to be reviewed. Need a partial? Has to be reviewed. Want to fill something? Have to scan it and wait 20 seconds for it to register.
Don't get me wrong, they have several very cool systems. There is just not a good workflow. It's clunky and slow.
What makes it worse is the lack of patient interaction. I'm used to an open air pharmacy and being able to converse with waiting patients as you please. It is a nice change of pace and often brings a lightheartedness to a stressful day.
Not here, the most interaction I get to enjoy is telling someone how much their bill is.
Obviouslly I have been jaded. I have toured many, many pharmacies over the years, but never long enough to see the full picture. This isn't fun... It's a chore.
Of course it doesn't help that all of my co-workers are uber serious all the time, but even if they were fun, it still wouldn't solve all of the problems.
I feel for all of you, I really do now. Some of you may have never ecperienced how great working in a pharmacy can truly be.
And that is the most sad fact of all.
13 comments:
My Walgreens has effective workflow. Workflow depends primarily on who is working. If everyone in the chain works quickly and efficiently, scripts get filled quickly. On average, we quote a 15-20 minute wait time. If it's packed on Mondays (like it usually is), that can increase to 25-35 minutes. The failsafes are justified. You should know how many idiots work behind the counter of a pharmacy. If no one was there to check a typed prescription or a scanned drug, bad things would happen sooner than later.
I'm used to working mostly with spectacular techs. People who rarely make mistakes and can probably do everything a pharmacist does but do the final verification and consultation. I realize that not everyone is like that, but it seems overkill.
For instance a woman came in last night for a refill on her lipitor. At my old work, we could have her out the door in 3-4 minutes. Last night, with all of the steps, it took 10-12 minutes. And that was with a speedy pharmacist.
Still seems overkill to me.
Walgreens dumbed down it's work flow to accommodate the fools that somehow become licensed pharmacy technicians (and in certain cases, pharmacists).
The workflow is by design not too bad, but in reality it does not work. Why? Staff! By design of the workflow you'll need 2 techs, 2 pharmacists and 1 cashier to do the job. That's FIVE people! Which one among us work with that kind of staff (not counting high volume pharmacies)?
Worked at the WAG for over 9 years. On a night where not much is going on which is infrequent it takes a couple of minutes max on a refill. I can knock out refills and get them verified sometimes by the end of the conversation that the tech is having with the patient. It all depends on who is working and what else is going on at the time. My store does about 450 a day and our average wait time is a little under 15 minutes.
The above's store sounds exactly like mine.
@Unchained Pharmacist, a few times a week, there is only one pharmacist and two techs on staff. The system works just fine if capable people are working.
I agree, the problems in workflow usually lie with the staff... Like for instance, the ones who won't move their behinds to help a customer when we're six deep at the counter (not an uncommon occurrence when you're doing 800+ per day) and two full drive thru lanes. But, I have worked at some spectacular stores where the experienced techs were a. good at their jobs and b. kicked the butts of the newbies who thought they might be able to get away with some of the garbage people I work with on a daily basis get away with. sorry for the run-on sentence... Lol.
But good luck, and I hope you can be open-minded enough not to discriminate against the people who choose to work at WAG because in some cases or places, they are good (or the best alternative).
Interesting insights to hear about the All-Powerful Walgreens. Like one commenter said, I'm sure they have designed their system to accommodate many different levels of competence. If you are in a 'good' store, everything works. I guess we could say that about any pharmacy workplace. Poor staff will always find a way to screw up a good system.
I like the WAG workflow. The 20 second (more like 5-10, but it sure feels like forever) thing is new, and they'll fix it with the next IC+ release I bet. I don't think partials and mfgr changes have to be reviewed any more... Flu shots are much quicker this year. RPh can update mistakes, which is much quicker, even if you lose the 'instructive' part of having to fix your own mistake.
I externed @ CVS, and every mistake made it all the way to the RPh before they figured it out, which meant you had to start over from the beginning. THAT sucks.
Oh I understand the point behind the work flow. A drunk monkey with an eye patch and one arm could fill a script using their system.
It's still too tedious. You shouldn't devise a work flow system based upon the weakest members. Hell, that's one of the main points we covered in my strategic management course.
The point is to minimize drug errors, not get the Rx to the patient as fast as possible. Even the smartest, most attentive person in the world, makes mistakes. When pharmacists make mistakes, people can and do die as a result of those mistakes. It's not even about the liability associated with making the occasional mistake, WAG can certainly afford it and most likely already has that liability cooked into the cake. Wait until you get into the hospital and see all of the redundant shit they do, it's absurd. But it's not about how great working in a pharmacy can be- it's about accurately dispensing appropriate medications to patients. Hopefully you'll figure that out sooner rather than later.
Anon @ 4:25pm
I'm not that dumb, I realize that.
What I'm saying is that taking that into account, that is still way too much spent. You could offer the same level of service, with the same amount of safety, in half the time.
It's an inefficient system.
Unfortunately, the prevenative measures still arent enough in many cases. Mistakes still make it through. Just be careful with how wonderful you perceive yourself to be. One day you will be humbled by a mistake that should have been caught, and wasnt.
My retail experience has taught me that the system can slow you down some, but if a workflow is inefficient, it's more due to the level of competence in the staff running the show. Put a bad tech or pharmacist anywhere in the process, and what should take 10 minutes takes 20 or longer.
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