My sister just stopped working at a local pharmacy.  She was unhappy there for a variety of reasons and is now looking for work at a different pharmacy.  She was telling me some horror stories about working there that freaked me out and I wanted to share two with you.  She told me that she had never told anyone about these concerns of hers because she did not want to lose her job while she was there, but now that she isn’t working there anymore that isn’t a concern anymore.

OK – here is the first one: 

She was telling me that the technicians are measured on “productivity.”  That means that they are tracked on how fast they fill prescriptions.  She said that the technicians are supposed to fill a prescription in thirty seconds or less.  That means from the time she receives the order in her hand she is supposed to find the bottle of pills on the shelf, take it to the counting station, count out the correct number of pills and put them in a pill bottle, print out a label and attach the label to the bottle and then turn the prescription over to the pharmacist to check.  In thirty seconds.  She said that she was frequently told to “count faster” when she was counting prescriptions that had 180 or 240 pills in it.  She was counting slower than normal to ensure that the patient was getting the correct number of pills, but she was told to “count faster.”  Just how accurate do you think the counting can be if they have to do all of that in thirty seconds?  I suggest you count your pills before you leave the store – you might find yourself short a few pills!

Now here is the second one: 

She was telling me that when the pharmacist (or technician) is counting out pills, if some fall on the counter or on the floor, the procedure was to simply pick them up and put them right into the pill bottle that the patient was going to be buying.  She said she was concerned the first time she saw that happen, and she asked the pharmacist what the procedure was for disposing of pills that fell on the floor and the pharmacist said “just put them in the bottle.”

She says that she knows that everyone who works in the pharmacy has dogs at home, and that they just wear their regular street shoes in the pharmacy, so you KNOW there has got to be traces of canine fecal matter (along with whatever bacteria is on the parking lot and store floors) on the pharmacy carpet that is being transferred to the pills that are being sent home with the patients.  She also said that although the carpet was vacuumed once a week, that it was filthy – when she looked under the anti-fatigue mats that are scattered around the pharmacy she could see that the carpet USED to be a golden color, whereas now it is a dark brown where the anti-fatigue mats do not cover.  So you KNOW that carpet is filthy.

Along that same note, the pharmacists bring their purses and lunch boxes into the pharmacy and put them on the counters that the pills are being counted on.  You KNOW that purses and lunch boxes spend a lot of time on floors, right?  She told me that she never once saw the counters being cleaned with anything at all – ever.  So any pills that got accidentally spilled/dropped onto the counters was also being exposed to whatever germs were transferred to the counter from the lunch boxes and purses.

Now this news really freaked me out, and I have made plans to transfer all of my prescriptions away from that store.  I think it is highly irresponsible to have this situation going on.  I think that it is irresponsible because they are supposed to be highly concerned about the health and safety of their customers.  Many of these customers could have compromised immune systems and could get sick from some of the bacteria that comes from the pills that hit the floor.  They could get worms from the fecal matter for crying out loud!

Give me a break!  I don’t know if that’s illegal – if not it SHOULD be, but it is at least immoral and irresponsible and that company should be ashamed of itself for allowing this to happen!

So I really do not think that pharmacy gives a rat’s ass about our health – it is all about profit and the bottom line.  Can’t throw away a contaminated pill, that would cost a penny or two!  Sell it to the sick people anyway.  Make the technicians fill the prescriptions at breakneck speed so the patient might not get the right number of pills to get better!

Do they REALLY care about our health?  I say NO, apparently they do NOT.