Lisa T.
Tewksbury, MAPharmacists and the profession of pharmacy has been around for a very long time and it has been one of the most respected professions. I began working in the field as a teenager and found it very rewarding (and still do). Since I found the job to be so fulfilling and interesting, I decided to go to school and become a pharmacist. I've been a pharmacist now for 10 years. In my earlier years of being a pharmacist I made an effort to do the most I could for each store that I worked at. Most of those stores had been 24hr stores filling anywhere between 2,500-3,200 prescriptions per week. Even though we were real busy I never even cared about taking a break, I had a lot of energy and getting through a 12 hour day was a piece of cake.
However, once I had a family and more responsibilities accumulated outside of work I realized that work was just another piece of the puzzle. I'm still in retail 15 years and could potentially be here forever. But as time goes on, I realize that I'm not the young energizer bunny that I once was.
Through the years as more and more prescriptions are being filled, more drugs are coming into the market, more drug interactions being discovered, more black box warnings, more duty to warn concerns...etc... it has become more difficult to help our patients to the fullest. It has been more difficult to keep up with the demands of the job.
Many can agree that as our days become full of reports and never ending
phone calls our job is becoming harder to manage. But at the end of the
day I remind myself that as much as I want to be this super human
person who catches all errors or who pleases each and every customer
even though my stomach has been grumbling for the past 3 hours and
headache...what headache? I don't have time for one...I'm not a
superhero (even though my son would love it if I were) , I should be
able to rest my brain after filling over 200 scripts, over 50
pharmacist phone calls, two dozen consultations, and at least 10
different calls to doctors to verify prescriptions? But was I able to
take a break? No I wasn't and not being able to CAN be harmful.
People may argue that not getting a break has always been status quo, it's the job, just deal! However, let's find a parallel with medical resident working 24-36 hours straight. That was like a right a passage for years but now there are limits on how long they can work-for safety purposes. I don't think we are asking for much. If corporations can figure out how to get patients to fill more prescriptions, or how to get consumers to buy more front store products then why can't they figure out how to get us to take a break? It seems so simple, but its not.
I know I don't have as much energy as I did in my twenties so if I want to work in this great profession for another 20 years, I'll want and need to take a break.
People may argue that not getting a break has always been status quo, it's the job, just deal! However, let's find a parallel with medical resident working 24-36 hours straight. That was like a right a passage for years but now there are limits on how long they can work-for safety purposes. I don't think we are asking for much. If corporations can figure out how to get patients to fill more prescriptions, or how to get consumers to buy more front store products then why can't they figure out how to get us to take a break? It seems so simple, but its not.
I know I don't have as much energy as I did in my twenties so if I want to work in this great profession for another 20 years, I'll want and need to take a break.
My name is Ray Funatsu and I've been a pharmacist since 1963. In '74 I started working as a manager with Sav-on until '94; that's when I stepped down because it got to be a little too much. I worked until 2000 and retired and now I'm on-call.
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