PHARMACY EXPOSED: 1,000 Things That Can Go Deadly Wrong At the Drugstore
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This book is aimed at a general audience as well as pharmacists. It is my hope that Pharmacy Exposed causes the public to be enraged at the inherent danger in the fast food model of pharmacy. It is my hope that the public tells chain executives in no uncertain terms that the current system is entirely unacceptable.
This is the most explosive book ever written about pharmacy.
Weighing in at over 750 pages, PHARMACY EXPOSED is a massive indictment of the fast food model of pharmacy.
Pharmacists have been eagerly waiting for a book to give to their spouses, parents, friends, and customers that describes the absurdity of operating pharmacies based on the McDonald's fast food model. Under this model, pharmacists have little choice but to sling out potentially deadly medications at a speed that makes mistakes inevitable.
Despite investing an incredible amount of time daily or weekly on this project, it has taken me nearly thirty years to finish Pharmacy Exposed: 1,000 Things That Can Go Deadly Wrong at the Drugstore. Weighing in at over 750 pages, this book represents a massive indictment of the McDonald's-ization of pharmacy. This is the book that the big chains do not want pharmacy customers to read.
It is my hope that Pharmacy Exposed becomes a paradigm-shifting book. This very controversial book will upset a lot of people in positions of power in the world of pharmacy, particularly those at the highest levels at the big chain drugstores, but also those at state boards of pharmacy and at this nation's many pharmacy schools. I hope to make a very compelling case that the status quo in pharmacy today is completely unacceptable and is, in fact, a prescription for disaster.
This is a reckless system that treats powerful prescription drugs as if they were no different from any other consumer product in America. The big drugstore chains run their operations as if pharmacists were dispensing nothing more hazardous than a Big Mac at McDonald's or a Whopper at Burger King. Somehow McDonald's and Burger King are able to provide adequate staffing for the dispensing of hamburgers but the big pharmacy chains are unable or unwilling to provide adequate staffing for the dispensing of a far more serious--and potentially dangerous--product.
Pharmacy Exposed discusses the issues chain pharmacists have been afraid to speak out about because of fear of jeopardizing their jobs. Too many pharmacists today feel that the chain drugstore model based on McDonald's has been disastrous for the public safety and for the profession of pharmacy. Pharmacists are disgusted with what they see as the unconscionable way in which the big chains jeopardize the safety of our customers. Pharmacists are furious that the current system cavalierly jeopardizes our license with every prescription we dispense.
Many pharmacists feel they are rolling the dice every day they go to work. Our constant companion is the fear that our next mistake results in the death or serious injury of a customer. Pharmacists go home at night crossing their fingers and wondering whether all the prescriptions they filled that day were done so properly. Pharmacists say to themselves something like, "Mrs. Smith was in today but I don't even remember checking her prescriptions."
A huge number of pharmacists are deeply disgusted with state boards of pharmacy for being too intimidated by the legal and political clout of the chains, and for being too timid to at least try to pass regulations that address the understaffing that is endemic to chain pharmacies. Pharmacists feel that understaffing is at the heart of the epidemic of pharmacy mistakes in America. Pharmacists believe that state boards of pharmacy are doing a breathtakingly poor job in protecting the public safety by failing to mandate staffing levels that are adequate for the safe filling of prescriptions.
Many pharmacists feel that pharmacy schools have grossly misrepresented what conditions are like in the real world. Many pharmacists say they would like to bring a class action lawsuit against the schools of pharmacy for promoting a sugar-coated view of pharmacy, and for promoting a professional model for which the big chains have complete and utter disdain. Pharmacy schools promote a model of the pharmacist as drug expert, but the big chains want nothing to do with that model. The big chains expect pharmacists to fill an ever-increasing number of prescriptions with the same or even decreasing levels of staffing. The big chains seem to have a huge preference for fast pharmacists over knowledgeable or helpful pharmacists.
Pharmacists feel that their speed in filling prescriptions is much more highly valued by the chains than their knowledge of drugs. Many pharmacists believe that the chains have made the cold calculation that it is more profitable to sling out prescriptions at lightning speed and pay customers harmed by mistakes than it is to provide adequate staffing so that mistakes are a rarity. Understaffing increases pharmacy profitability but it also increases the frequency of serious errors.
Pharmacy mistakes are a horrific yet predictable consequence of the chains' obsession with the bottom line. It appears that cost-cutting--not patient safety--is the core guiding principle. It is my hope that Pharmacy Exposed causes the public to be enraged at the inherent danger in this fast food model of pharmacy. It is my hope that Pharmacy Exposed serves as an urgently-needed antidote to this madness, showing readers how they can protect themselves and avoid becoming a casualty of a system that is in crisis. It is my hope that the public tells chain executives in no uncertain terms that the current system is entirely unacceptable.
Despite investing an incredible amount of time daily or weekly on this project, it has taken me nearly thirty years to finish Pharmacy Exposed: 1,000 Things That Can Go Deadly Wrong at the Drugstore. Weighing in at over 750 pages, this book represents a massive indictment of the McDonald's-ization of pharmacy. This is the book that the big chains do not want pharmacy customers to read.
It is my hope that Pharmacy Exposed becomes a paradigm-shifting book. This very controversial book will upset a lot of people in positions of power in the world of pharmacy, particularly those at the highest levels at the big chain drugstores, but also those at state boards of pharmacy and at this nation's many pharmacy schools. I hope to make a very compelling case that the status quo in pharmacy today is completely unacceptable and is, in fact, a prescription for disaster.
This is a reckless system that treats powerful prescription drugs as if they were no different from any other consumer product in America. The big drugstore chains run their operations as if pharmacists were dispensing nothing more hazardous than a Big Mac at McDonald's or a Whopper at Burger King. Somehow McDonald's and Burger King are able to provide adequate staffing for the dispensing of hamburgers but the big pharmacy chains are unable or unwilling to provide adequate staffing for the dispensing of a far more serious--and potentially dangerous--product.
Pharmacy Exposed discusses the issues chain pharmacists have been afraid to speak out about because of fear of jeopardizing their jobs. Too many pharmacists today feel that the chain drugstore model based on McDonald's has been disastrous for the public safety and for the profession of pharmacy. Pharmacists are disgusted with what they see as the unconscionable way in which the big chains jeopardize the safety of our customers. Pharmacists are furious that the current system cavalierly jeopardizes our license with every prescription we dispense.
Many pharmacists feel they are rolling the dice every day they go to work. Our constant companion is the fear that our next mistake results in the death or serious injury of a customer. Pharmacists go home at night crossing their fingers and wondering whether all the prescriptions they filled that day were done so properly. Pharmacists say to themselves something like, "Mrs. Smith was in today but I don't even remember checking her prescriptions."
A huge number of pharmacists are deeply disgusted with state boards of pharmacy for being too intimidated by the legal and political clout of the chains, and for being too timid to at least try to pass regulations that address the understaffing that is endemic to chain pharmacies. Pharmacists feel that understaffing is at the heart of the epidemic of pharmacy mistakes in America. Pharmacists believe that state boards of pharmacy are doing a breathtakingly poor job in protecting the public safety by failing to mandate staffing levels that are adequate for the safe filling of prescriptions.
Many pharmacists feel that pharmacy schools have grossly misrepresented what conditions are like in the real world. Many pharmacists say they would like to bring a class action lawsuit against the schools of pharmacy for promoting a sugar-coated view of pharmacy, and for promoting a professional model for which the big chains have complete and utter disdain. Pharmacy schools promote a model of the pharmacist as drug expert, but the big chains want nothing to do with that model. The big chains expect pharmacists to fill an ever-increasing number of prescriptions with the same or even decreasing levels of staffing. The big chains seem to have a huge preference for fast pharmacists over knowledgeable or helpful pharmacists.
Pharmacists feel that their speed in filling prescriptions is much more highly valued by the chains than their knowledge of drugs. Many pharmacists believe that the chains have made the cold calculation that it is more profitable to sling out prescriptions at lightning speed and pay customers harmed by mistakes than it is to provide adequate staffing so that mistakes are a rarity. Understaffing increases pharmacy profitability but it also increases the frequency of serious errors.
Pharmacy mistakes are a horrific yet predictable consequence of the chains' obsession with the bottom line. It appears that cost-cutting--not patient safety--is the core guiding principle. It is my hope that Pharmacy Exposed causes the public to be enraged at the inherent danger in this fast food model of pharmacy. It is my hope that Pharmacy Exposed serves as an urgently-needed antidote to this madness, showing readers how they can protect themselves and avoid becoming a casualty of a system that is in crisis. It is my hope that the public tells chain executives in no uncertain terms that the current system is entirely unacceptable.
Most people view the pharmacist's job as fairly straightforward, uneventful, and even boring. Doctors write prescriptions and pharmacists fill those prescriptions. What could be simpler? Too often, the reality is quite different. Due to competitive pressures in the marketplace, pharmacy has been transformed into a high-speed, high-stress, high-stakes enterprise in which powerful prescription drugs are just a blur on a hamburger assembly line. The big drugstore chains have embraced the McDonald's fast food model with disastrous consequences.
I quit pharmacy after twenty-five years because I was so fed up with slinging out prescriptions as fast as my hands and feet would allow. I am trying to expose the fact that mistakes are far more common in drugstores than patients and physicians realize. Powerful prescription drugs are dispensed across America in a system that is guaranteed to produce errors. The big chain drugstores don't want you to know that pharmacies are purposely understaffed to increase productivity and profitability.
A huge number of pharmacists are disillusioned with the profession and are not recommending pharmacy as a career for their children. A huge number of pharmacists say that they would never have chosen pharmacy as a career if they had known what conditions are like in what we sarcastically refer to as "McPharmacy."
Many pharmacists feel that the chains have made the cold calculation that it is more profitable to sling out prescriptions at lighting speed and pay customers harmed by mistakes than it is to provide adequate staffing so that mistakes are a rarity rather than a predictable occurrence. Understaffing sometimes forces pharmacists to take educated guesses rather than call doctors to clarify illegible prescriptions. Understaffing sometimes causes pharmacists to override potentially significant drug interactions rather than phone the doctor who prescribed the drugs.
The chain drugstores' obsession with speed increases the occurrence of pharmacy mistakes. Pharmacists are under tremendous pressure to fill prescriptions at unsafe speeds. Drive-thru windows increase mistakes by creating the expectation among customers that prescriptions should be filled as quickly as McDonald's fills burger orders. It is a fact that the speed with which pharmacists fill prescriptions is one of the primary criteria used by chain management in determining whether pharmacists are doing a satisfactory job.
I advocate a major overhaul in pharmacy toward one that serves patients' needs rather than corporate interests, and toward one that places the health and well-being of pharmacy customers ahead of corporate profits. I have attempted to say what many pharmacists passionately believe but are afraid to verbalize out of fear of jeopardizing their employment. Too many pharmacists today feel that the chain drugstore model has been disastrous for the public safety and for the profession of pharmacy. So it is not surprising that many pharmacists are not recommending pharmacy as a career for their children.
The pharmacy of today that I describe is one controlled by the bottom line, in which cost-cutting is the core guiding principle. This singular obsession with profits causes the big chains to cut pharmacy staffing to levels that are a threat to the public safety. The chains have embraced the fast food model with disastrous consequences in a system that rewards quantity over quality. This is a system where pharmacists are forced to fill prescriptions as if they were working at McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's. It is a system where pharmacists too often don't have enough staffing to adequately answer questions from customers. It is a system that cuts costs by hiring more technicians to do tasks formerly done by pharmacists. It is a system in which insurance companies erect an ever-increasing number of obstacles to dampen utilization while at the same time making policyholders' and pharmacists' lives more complicated. It is a system in which pharmacy mistakes are a horrific yet predictable and inevitable consequence of the chains' obsession with the bottom line.
The pharmacist's daily reality too often consists of arrogant doctors with some or all of the following traits: 1) notoriously illegible handwriting, 2) inadequate knowledge of drug interactions and a rude or dismissive attitude toward pharmacists who call about those potential drugs interactions or questionable doses, and 3) receptionists who too often have a very poor understanding of drug names yet routinely phone prescription orders to the pharmacy. The pharmacist's daily reality also consists of corporate bean counters who only care about numbers, and about how fast pharmacists can fill prescriptions. Pharmacists feel that their speed in filling prescriptions is much more highly valued by the chains than the pharmacist's knowledge of drugs. The pharmacist's daily reality consists of impatient customers who only care about how long they will have to wait for their prescriptions to be filled, and who seem to have no understanding of the potential hazards in the pharmacy and how common pharmacy mistakes are.
Ours is a nakedly profit-driven health care system in a culture that demands a quick-fix pill for every ill. It is a culture that prefers pills instead of prevention. It is a culture in which the public has been well-conditioned by Pharma advertising to salivate for the latest wonder drug. It is a culture of fast food in which pharmacy drive-thru windows are a threat to the public safety by creating an expectation for service that is as speedy as McDonald's.
The pharmacy of today that I describe is one controlled by the bottom line, in which cost-cutting is the core guiding principle. This singular obsession with profits causes the big chains to cut pharmacy staffing to levels that are a threat to the public safety. The chains have embraced the fast food model with disastrous consequences in a system that rewards quantity over quality. This is a system where pharmacists are forced to fill prescriptions as if they were working at McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's. It is a system where pharmacists too often don't have enough staffing to adequately answer questions from customers. It is a system that cuts costs by hiring more technicians to do tasks formerly done by pharmacists. It is a system in which insurance companies erect an ever-increasing number of obstacles to dampen utilization while at the same time making policyholders' and pharmacists' lives more complicated. It is a system in which pharmacy mistakes are a horrific yet predictable and inevitable consequence of the chains' obsession with the bottom line.
The pharmacist's daily reality too often consists of arrogant doctors with some or all of the following traits: 1) notoriously illegible handwriting, 2) inadequate knowledge of drug interactions and a rude or dismissive attitude toward pharmacists who call about those potential drugs interactions or questionable doses, and 3) receptionists who too often have a very poor understanding of drug names yet routinely phone prescription orders to the pharmacy. The pharmacist's daily reality also consists of corporate bean counters who only care about numbers, and about how fast pharmacists can fill prescriptions. Pharmacists feel that their speed in filling prescriptions is much more highly valued by the chains than the pharmacist's knowledge of drugs. The pharmacist's daily reality consists of impatient customers who only care about how long they will have to wait for their prescriptions to be filled, and who seem to have no understanding of the potential hazards in the pharmacy and how common pharmacy mistakes are.
Ours is a nakedly profit-driven health care system in a culture that demands a quick-fix pill for every ill. It is a culture that prefers pills instead of prevention. It is a culture in which the public has been well-conditioned by Pharma advertising to salivate for the latest wonder drug. It is a culture of fast food in which pharmacy drive-thru windows are a threat to the public safety by creating an expectation for service that is as speedy as McDonald's.
The American public has no idea how common pharmacy mistakes are. A few years ago, ABC's 20/20 did an undercover investigation of pharmacy mistakes. The segment was titled "Pharmacy Errors: Unreported Epidemic?" In my opinion that is an accurate description of the problem except that the question mark should have been replaced with an exclamation point. Search Google for "pharmacy mistakes" if you have any doubt about how serious this problem is.
I have included in Pharmacy Exposed a description of fifty major court settlements from pharmacy mistakes. In thirty-four of these cases, the mistake resulted in a jury award of at least a million dollars and/or resulted in the death of a patient.
Here are the top four awards that I am aware of in pharmacy mistake cases.
1. $31.3 million award in Illinois--Walgreens pharmacist dispensed diabetes drug glipizide instead of gout drug allopurinol, leading to renal failure, stroke, and death
2. $30.6 million award in California--Thrifty-Payless pharmacist dispensed 100 mg of phenobarbital to girl instead of 15 mg prescribed, causing brain damage
3. $25.8 million award in Florida--Walgreens pharmacist dispensed blood thinner warfarin in 10 times the dose prescribed, causing cerebral hemorrhage
4. $21 million award in Illinois--Walgreens pharmacist dispensed adult diabetes drug glipizide to infant girl instead of anti-seizure drug phenobarbital
Not surprisingly many pharmacists privately welcome multi-million-dollar awards. I've heard several pharmacists say things like, "I hope the media coverage embarrasses the chains into providing adequate staffing so that pharmacy mistakes aren't inevitable."
Several years ago, my own stepfather was given the type-2 diabetes medicine Glucophage at a Wal-Mart pharmacy in Florida, instead of the anti-hypertensive Toprol XL. My stepfather has never had any type of diabetes. Luckily I was visiting my mother and stepfather when my stepfather asked me why the pills in his refill bottle looked different from the Toprol XL he was expecting.
From the Back Cover
- The most comprehensive exposé of pharmacy written by a pharmacist
- This is the book that will change the way America views pharmacy and chain drugstores
- This is the book that the big drugstore chains do not want you to read
- The unreported epidemic of pharmacy mistakes
- Dozens of deaths from pharmacy mistakes and multi-million dollar jury awards
- The disastrous consequences of applying the McDonald's fast food model to pharmacy
- How doctors' illegible handwriting is no laughing matter
- Does your doctor's receptionist have enough knowledge of drug names to phone prescriptions to your drugstore?
- Why electronic prescriptions from doctors are not the panacea they're advertised to be
- How chain drugstores' obsession with speed increases the occurrence of pharmacy mistakes
- How to avoid becoming the victim of a serious pharmacy error
- How poorly trained pharmacy technicians can be a threat to the public safety
- How understaffing increases pharmacy profitability but places the public at risk
- How pharmacists are under tremendous pressure to fill prescriptions at unsafe speeds
- Why it may be safer to have your prescriptions filled at an independent pharmacy rather than at one of the huge drugstore chains
- Why are high school students with after-school jobs routinely allowed to help fill prescriptions in pharmacies across America?
- Why are so many pharmacists not recommending pharmacy as a career for their children?
- What criteria should you look for in deciding whether your pharmacy is thorough in addressing critical details such as potential drug interactions, accurate dosages, drug allergies, proper directions, and therapy duplication?
- How can you determine whether the pills in your bottle are exactly what your doctor prescribed?
- Understaffing sometimes forces pharmacists to take educated guesses when faced with illegible prescriptions or to override potentially significant drug interactions rather than call your doctor
- Due to competitive pressures in the marketplace, pharmacy has been transformed into a high-speed, high-stress, high-stakes enterprise in which powerful prescription drugs are just a blur on a hamburger assembly line
- Drive-thru windows increase mistakes by creating the expectation among customers that prescription drugs should be filled as quickly as McDonald's fills burger orders
- The big drugstore chains run their operations as if pharmacists were dispensing nothing more hazardous than a Big Mac
- Powerful prescription drugs are dispensed across America in a system that is guaranteed to produce errors
- And much, much more
- This book can save your life!
To order, click here
Publication Date: Aug 17 2012
ISBN/EAN13: 1467945501 / 9781467945509
Page Count: 756
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 6.14" x 9.21"
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Related Categories: Medical / Pharmacy
Publication Date: Aug 17 2012
ISBN/EAN13: 1467945501 / 9781467945509
Page Count: 756
Binding Type: US Trade Paper
Trim Size: 6.14" x 9.21"
Language: English
Color: Black and White
Related Categories: Medical / Pharmacy