The following letter (after the preceding message) describes an
interesting phenomenon happening in some chain pharmacies in USA.
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Date: Thu, 29 Jan 1998 12:29:00 -0800
From: Diep-Hung Nguyen <hung@itsa.ucsf.edu>
To: PHARM99@ITSSRV1.UCSF.EDU
Subject: unsafe working condition at rite aid RX
To all future pharmacists:
Congratulation, you will soon become one of us, a pharmacist.
Good
luck to you all with the rotations, the board exam and in whatever you
choose to do in the future. I know how you all feel now because I was on
the Moffit floor, SFGH, Mt. Zion last year at this time. Hey, Cheer up,
it'll be over soon. Some of you will go on to a residency of somekind,
others will choose to just work. Unlike me, Many of you will work
retail for Payless, Walgreen, ..... and the issue of unsafe working
conditions will affect you.
Below is a letter by a practicing pharmacist to the Board of
pharmacy,
expressing concern about unsafe working conditions at many
Payless/Thrifty pharmacies. If you TOO are concern about this issue,
please sign a forward the letter to the board of pharmacy and your
appropriate organization (APHA, CSHP, ...). If not, thank for reading
it. Here it is:
To : Annie Farrenkoff
California State Board
Fr: Kelvin Chan, RPH
Re: Rite Aid's unsafe working conditions
Dear Anne Farrenkoff,
My name is Kelvin Chan and I am the Pharmacy manager for Rite
Aid Drug
store in Fremont, California. I am speaking on behalf of many pharmacy
managers and staff pharmacists employed by Rite Aid. Due to reduced
third party reimbursement and a declining profit margin, Rite Aid has
made significant labor cuts in both pharmacist and technician/clerk
hours. These cuts are not isolated to my store but involve
district-wide cuts throughout california.
While many businesses are forced to make tough decisions in
order to
remain competitive, Rite aid's labor cuts ar too drastic. It is Rite
Aid's goal to have only "one pharmacist on duty" per store doing up to
2000 prescriptions a week. We are forced to work mandatory "one
pharmacist on duty" 8, 10, 12 and 13 hours shifts without lunches or
breaks. It is expected that we work longer hours with increased work
load. For those of us who don't have restrooms in the pharmacy, we
literally have to run out of the pharmacy to use the restroom
facilities. The extreme labor cuts create inhumane working conditions,
in which no pharmacist can make clear and safe judgements or provide
adequate consultation required by law.
Under the Employment Regulation and Supervision For Pharmacies,
Section
850, it states that, " No person employed to sell at retail drugs and
medicines or to compound physicians' prescriptions shall perform any
work in any ... pharmacy... for more than an average of nine hours per
day or for more than 108 hours in two consecutive weeks or for more than
12 days in any two consecutive weeks,..."
Since pharmacists are considered professionals by the Industrial
Welfare Commission, we are exempt from the traditional eight hour shift,
fourty hour weeks, and overtime pay beyond eight hour days. The law
does not consider the impact of longer hours and increased work load on
the pharmacist. Because there is a gray area in the law, Rite Aid is
able to save labor costs at the expense of public safety.
Rite Aid has not addressed any of these issues. As a result,
many Rite
Aid district managers, pharmacy managers and staff pharmacists have
resigned. The high turn over rate of pharmacists has exacerbated the
stressful and chaotic work conditions. To this end, Rite Aid
pharmacists are at higher risk to make dangerous and life threatening
errors in comparison to other drug store chain pharmacists.
What is the State Board of Pharmacy's possition on this type of
unsafe
pharmacy practice by Rite Aid? What is the maximum prescription per
hour per pharmacist that is consider safe? Is there any legislation to
protect public safety and minimize liability of pharmacists from these
type of labor practices?
Sincerely,
Kelvin Chan, Pharm.D.
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