Pharmaceutical Injuries & Errors
Understaffed Pharmacies, Overworked Employees Causing Prescription Errors Exposed by USA Today
By Lauren Jones, The Bowling Law Firm Paralegal – A USA TODAY article published in October 2023 brings attention to dangerous pharmacy conditions that have led to an exponential surge in pharmacy errors. According to USA TODAY, in the post-COVID era, chain pharmacies are understaffed but the workload is higher than ever before. Filling an average of 500 prescriptions each day, answering phones, consulting with customers, administering vaccines, and COVID testing are just some of the tasks that fall on a pharmacy’s skeleton crew. Even worse, “solo shifts” are common. Burnt out employees can barely keep up, inevitably cutting corners. Former Walgreens pharmacist Bled Tanoe told USA TODAY that the push from corporate to hit quotas has created an environment…
Read MoreRisk of Medication Errors in Stressful Pharmacy Work Environments
By Lauren Jones, The Bowling Law Firm Paralegal – In the past few years, working conditions in pharmacies across the United States have come into the spotlight. Pharmacists are overworked, pharmacies are understaffed, and the risk of errors is predictably higher. Post COVID-19, staffing levels at popular pharmacy chains like CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens have significantly fallen. The remaining employees, already spread thin, have to pick up the slack. In an NBC News article published in 2021, Marilyn Jerominski details her experience as a pharmacist: “There’s so much stress,” Jerominski said. “You’re not only running to the drive-thru but to the front, to the vaccination station to give a vaccination, then to the phone. . . . It’s almost…
Read MoreHow Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk
The pharmacy industry is increasingly under pressure to cut costs. As the Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) industry tries to commoditize drug products and decrease what pharmacists are paid, the real victims are the consumers who rely on the day-to-day expertise of those pharmacists. Pharmacists not only fill prescriptions, but they offer a wealth of information and advice about medication side effects, disease prevention, nutrition, diabetes management and much more. Pharmacists have specialized training and must attend pharmacy school before passing both national and state licensing exams. However, the current economic model disregards those specialties and only pays pharmacies the cost of the drug product plus a dispensing fee of $0-to-$1. Many pharmacists at companies like CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens…
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