The demands of pharmacists have increased during the pandemic, from conducting COVID-19 tests to giving vaccines, and pharmacists told NBC News they're concerned they don't have enough time to focus on patient safety.
NBC said March 16 it talked to 31 retail pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in 15 states who told them that during the pandemic, they are being asked to do more with less. Many told stories of working 12-hour shifts with no time to use the bathroom or eat.
"The expectations they're having and the resources they're giving us just aren't matching up," a CVS pharmacy technician in New York state told NBC, speaking anonymously out of fear of being fired. "We're going to have a fatal error somewhere because we're doing too many things at once."
Smaller profit margins for pharmacies, consolidation across the retail pharmacy industry and a wave of new pharmacy school graduates in the last decade have led to pharmacists having to work faster, fill more prescriptions and handle more tasks with fewer staff members, NBC reported. Many pharmacists told NBC the pace is unsustainable and jeopardizes patient safety. Pharmacy errors can include miscounting the number of pills in a bottle and missing potentially fatal drug interactions.
The demands have intensified during the pandemic, as pharmacists now also have to conduct COVID-19 tests and vaccines as well as adhere to deep-cleaning protocols.
"Pharmacists are being asked to do additional tasks and aren't necessarily receiving the assistance that they need from their employer," Al Carter, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, a nonprofit that represents state pharmacy regulators, told NBC. "That's a huge concern for pharmacists' well-being but also, more importantly, for patient safety."
He added that many state boards of pharmacy have increasingly expressed concerns about prescription errors.
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