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Retail Pharmacists
Third Class of Drugs
Retails pharmacists, are we ready and/or willing to write prescriptions? Not OTC, nor BTC; legends. Retail pharmacists, do we have the diagnostic tools and/or the proper training to write prescriptions? Retail pharmacists, do we want to?
Comments
Location: clackamas, OR
Posts: 919
Is thie the next step in the
Is thie the next step in the evolution of pharmacy in general?
Location: Sebring, FL
Posts: 1
The current training in most
The current training in most pharmacy colleges seems to be heading in this direction. I think most retail pharmacists would be qaulafied to diagnose and treat diseases such as HTN and DM. It is certainly a direction I would be willing to go in, but I think I may be one of the few.
Location: clackamas, OR
Posts: 919
With the fast food style of
With the fast food style of operating retail pharmacies, do you believe Rphs have the time to properly diagnose and treat patients?
Location: New Albany, IN
Posts: 190
why do you think that the
why do you think that the "fast food style of operating a retail pharmacy" is properly serving the present day patient? Corporate pharmacy seems to be more interested in generating profits and grabbing market share. If getting Pharmacists to be able to generate more revenue - without a major increase in over-head - seems to me... a prime part of their business model. All they have to do is convince Pharmacists that they are becoming a larger (active) part of the health care system and relegate the filling of Rxs to some off-site as much as possible.
Location: clackamas, OR
Posts: 919
Many of the big corps are
Many of the big corps are actually doing just that. They combine retail and mail-order pharmacy into one entity. They are taking the pour and count as much as possible away from retail rphs.
Location: clackamas, OR
Posts: 919
I am not sure if it can
I am not sure if it can really work.
Location: clackamas, OR
Posts: 919
Have you heard any feedback
Have you heard any feedback from rphs doing what you said? Is it working for them?
Location: New Albany, IN
Posts: 190
Walgreen's was all the rage
Walgreen's was all the rage in pushing their "POWER PROGRAM" in Fl and AZ.. where they were cutting store's Rx dept hrs and staff and having staff push pts into auto refills - so that they could do them via two centralized Rx centers in Florida and centralized call centers. I have not seen/heard anything from this program for ~ one year.. seems to be at the very least ON HOLD.
I have a family friend who is a nurse in Florida - works for a ped - she said that Walgreens was flooding their office with refill requests authorization via faxes. As we all know, peds do not provide a lot of refills - just by the vary nature of their patient base.
She has been telling their patients to go to CVS or RiteAid.. the only way she sees in making a dent in all the faxes from Walgreens.
As I recall, when Walgreen first announced this program... they were going to have it nation-wide within a year or two... Got into FL first followed by AZ... and then the whole expansion seem to drop into NEUTRAL.
I read the transcript from the AZ board meeting with Walgreen execs... about getting permission to do this in AZ... talk about SPIN... but then it is claimed that 25% of the state pharmacy board members are EMPLOYEES of corporate pharmacy... while corporate pharmacy competes with one another... IMO .. they will not vote against anything that will lessens corporate pharmacy's collective ability to gain market share..
What is good for pharmacy may not necessarily be good for the patient we serve nor Pharmacists individually or collectively. Because patients have been beaten into submission by their insurance companies or decisions by their employers.. what they want/need may have little impact on how pharmacy provide services evolves.
If one doubts this... how many fewer Rxs would mail order firms be filling if they charged the same prices as retail/community and/or their service was not mandated by their insurance or employer?