Have you heard that pharmacists are going on strike? Perhaps you wonder what they could possibly be complaining about, since their salaries are generally quite decent. Or maybe you think any concerns pharmacists could have about their working conditions couldn’t possibly have anything to do with you. We beg to differ.
An Historical Perspective:
Joe’s grandfather, also named Joe, was a pharmacist in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. These days we would call him a compounding pharmacist. Many of the medications he dispensed he made to order from plants or herbs.
The small town in eastern Pennsylvania where Joe grew up had one pharmacy on Main Street. It was a gathering spot like the post office, where neighbors would greet each other. The pharmacist knew all his customers well and was able to offer advice about side effects and potential interactions. He also compounded certain medicines prescribed by local physicians.
Current State of Pharmacy Practice:
Times have changed. These days, such mom-and-pop pharmacies are hard to find. Instead, large chain drugstores dominate the market.
Many prescriptions now are transmitted from the prescriber to the pharmacy electronically. When you get your medicine, it might be delivered to your mailbox or front door. If you pick it up at a drugstore, the likelihood is that the person who hands it to you is a pharmacy tech rather than a pharmacist.
Pharmacy technicians have become essential to the workflow of a modern drugstore. Techs receive a fraction of the education and salary of pharmacists. However, they do a lot of the counting and pouring, filing and retrieving of the prescriptions.
Customers may have a hard time telling who is a pharmacist (with four years of post-graduate education in pharmacy school after college) and who is a tech. Tech qualifications vary depending upon the pharmacy chain and the state. Chain drugstores determine how many techs will work at any given store.
What’s Wrong with Working Conditions for Pharmacists?
Perhaps you have read that pharmacists have been going on strike in recent weeks. CVS pharmacists in Kansas City walked out for a few days late in September. Unlike most other workers, they were not complaining about low wages. Pharmacists earn good salaries. Instead, they were protesting stressful and unsafe working conditions.
They say they are expected to do much more with inadequate staff support. Pharmacy chains have positioned themselves as a primary place to get vaccinations. That has added to the stress.
Pharmacy techs are now administering these shots sometimes. That could take them away from helping pharmacists fill prescriptions. That puts a strain on everyone in the pharmacy section.
Where Else Are Pharmacists Going on Strike?
It’s not just CVS. Walgreens pharmacists have walked out in places as far apart as Arizona, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington. They too are objecting to unsafe working conditions.
One person who worked in a hospital pharmacy noted: “Where there is understaffing, mistakes are bound to happen.” Pharmacists told USA Today (Sept. 22, 2023) that “…their work requirements leave them unable to safely fill and verify prescriptions, putting patients at risk of serious harm or even death.”
One pharmacist shared his perspective from 50 years behind the counter:
“Intense pressure on the pharmacy staff and cutting staff when prescription volume drops even a little bit is common. The district and area managers get extra pay when they cut staff salary, so their incentive is to do that. They make a lot of money, but the prescription dispensing process becomes very dangerous.
“As a retiree now, I am a customer at a major big-box pharmacy, and it is rare that I do not find an error of some sort in every prescription I pick up.”
Pharmacies Are Disappearing:
According to the Washington Post, chains like CVS and Walgreens are closing stores that aren’t profitable enough. In fact, Rite Aid has filed for bankruptcy. Many of the stores being closed are in low-income areas. When they are gone, people in those areas often have nowhere else to turn.
Experts worry that economic and racial health inequalities will grow worse as a result. In some areas, the pharmacist may be the one health professional people can reach for questions about their medicines or their health.
If you think pharmacy strikes are inconvenient and don’t affect you, please reconsider. These health professionals are trying to keep you safe.
