Quote:
Originally Posted by What_the?
As for selection of pharmacy, I believe that finding a good pharmacist is a total crapshoot. It is totally wrong to generalize saying that small independent pharmacies are going to provide better care than a chain one. It is purely luck of the draw, depending on the pharmacist. A good pharmacist is a good one no matter where they work. In fact, I think it may be better to find a good pharmacist at a chain, as opposed to a good pharmacist that owns his own independent shop for example. I work for a chain myself, and would consider myself reasonably good at what I do. Come Christmas time I usually get enough gifts, chocolates, bottles of wine, and thank you cards from my patients to fill up my whole locker and then some. When it comes down to it, my motivation for being good is purely for the patient. I make the same amount of money regardless of what I do, so I have no incentive to sell you more over the counter goods, cough and cold products, etc. If you don't need something I'll tell you straight up, don't waste your money. If we were in a situation where the pharmacy may lose money, it's not my money, so I could really care less if the chain takes a hit. Just a cost of doing business.
But think on the flip side, if every dollar you spend in a small independent were incentive for the Pharmacist owner because every dollar goes into their pocket? If a hit to the store is a hit to their paycheque, it might make them think twice.
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Although I know what you're getting at here and
some of your points are valid, I feel the need to comment for small independent pharmacies as well since my family owns one. I will not deny that there is financial motivation for selling something vs not selling something when it's your own pharmacy; however, I do also feel strongly that I would go the extra mile for a patient vs an average pharmacist working at a chain. I have come across SO many complacent pharmacists at chains since I got licensed that it's just mind-boggling. From pharmacists unwilling to do a medication review/get injection training/any clinical services, to pharmacists that need to be kicked in the ass just to even do the BARE MINIMUM expected of them. A large number of chain pharmacists only work as hard as they need to (as long as they do not do LESS than their competition - the other pharmacists working there).
The common line I hear from them is: "Why should I do it? Why should I take on the extra responsibility? Why do I need to do extra when I'm already so busy?" And some of these are people I know that graduated WITH me and are pretty much fresh out of school; not just the old-timers. What almost every chain pharmacist fails to understand is that these things are NOT extra. They are part of your daily routine and responsibility as a pharmacist. And if you don't do them, not only are you short-changing your patients, but head-office will eventually look at you and wonder why you're worth your $40/hour. I also feel that chains exploit every loophole in the system to extract the most money possible (eg. loyalty points, Airmiles, half-assed incomplete med reviews, encouraging using private flu stocks vs public flu stocks to make more money, forcing stores to meet a quota for injections, etc.) and compromise ethical boundaries just as much (if not more) as any "shady" independent pharmacy. Chains just have a larger market share and more power in the industry and can get away with things more easily. If push comes to shove and headoffice tells chain pharmacists to do something or risk losing hours or their job, what do you think the majority of them would do? Money is king even in the health care system.
The problem here is really complacency in our profession - too many people that are not held accountable BECAUSE too many pharmacists work for chains. If you own a pharmacy, you are automatically held accountable and are motivated to work harder as compared to working at a chain simply because your livelihood depends on it. Our prices for Rxs are generally the same and there is no way we can compete selling OTCs vs the buying volume of a chain. The only thing we really have left is to work our asses off and provide better service.
But I completely agree with you that it really is a crapshoot as far as finding a good pharmacist. There are good and bad ones EVERYWHERE and it really comes down to the individual vs blatant generalization. The busier pharmacies are also generally the ones less willing to help. Head offices will schedule the minimum # of pharmacists to cover a certain Rx volume. It is not based on patient care whatsoever, unfortunately.