First let me say , I have worked 10-12 hours shifts in my career. I was fortunate to have partners and staff that allowed us to take lunch breaks and dinner breaks away from the counter.

With that said, I think that breaks should be at least 15 minutes long and lunch or dinner breaks should be a minimum 30 minutes away from the pharmacy .  To insure public safety is the duty of the Board of Pharmacy.

It is a proven fact that long hours and reduced help can contribute to errors and cause harm to patients.

I  also feel that if you work a 10 or 12 hour shift having only a 6 hour rest between turn around. It should be at least 8 hours at a minimum  

As a 2016 graduate who has worked for a major retail chain as a pharmacy technician, intern, and signed as a future staff pharmacist. I have seen pharmacists pull thirteen hour days with no overlap or extra pharmacist help. I have seen it done successfully and done not so successfuly. I think the main issue isn't necessarily telling pharmacist that they get a 30minute break evry 6 hours... because most companies "tell" them that and to utilize their breaks, but these pharmacist sacrifice those "breaks" because they have goals, times, and script deadlines etc. imposed by their companies and non-patient customers to meet. I feel that in order to protect all pharmacists. Pharmacy's should be required to have a 2 thirty minute windows in which no prescriptions will be filled so a pharmacist can have a true break. It's hard to sit down for your lunch, when you can't stop patient from dropping off prescritions. Once they drop them off and are filled by technicians, someone has to check them. So the pharmacist who is on "break" still has to get up, run over to the counter, verify the prescriptions, and check it. But then, another patient spots the pharmacist and asks a question, needs a recommendation, the phone rings, and basically that break is over. Pharmacies should be required to shut down at least 30 minutes to 1 full hour a day for a lunch. This would give everyone a time to PAUSE and regroup. I don't believe it's the long 13 hour days that are the issue. It's pharmacist feeling that if they take that 30minute to 1 hr break that they will be so behind and can't recover for the day. It's patients and consumers not understanding that retail pharmacy is not a McDonald's restaurant we can NOT premake all their orders an just hand it to them. It's medicine and can be deadly if mixed up incorrectly or wrong drug is given to the wrong patient. 

All retail chain stores with pharmacies opperating more than 12 hours a day should be closed to the public for atleast 30 minutes to 1 hour. A lot of docotors offices have a 30 minute to 1 hour break for lunch, so the medication centers for a community should do.

Monday through Friday most retail stores are open from 8am to 9pm, these shifts are doable and if the company was required to pause for 30 minutes, what a difference that would make for the whole team. Now on weekends, there are normally sortened hours and I don't think that a mandatory shut down would be needed. But, yes, lunch breaks should be required for all pharmacists and in order to protect these pharmacist from abusing themselves while trying to meet employer goals, the companies should be held to a mandatory 30 minute or 1 hour (they can choose) lunch shutdown. This could count to their employees lunch breaks as well, so if everyone took lunch at same time it would save them from having dips in production etc. when people have to keep switching out for breaks. Everyone would win and pharmacists can still keep their flexible shifts and have a day or two off for the week if they are completing longer shifts each day.

The hours in healthcare are not easy by any means and requires a certain type of individual with passion and precision for their field. This seems to be aimed more towards retail pharmacy, which I am glad to see. I do approve of the message being sent by this regulation, however it is flawed. A previous commenter made a solid point in which yes many corporations give or even require pharmacists to have an adequate break. However, those that have actually worked in retail know that customers that are regulars, or impatiently waiting for a medication, in a critical state etc can see the pharmacist during their break and ask for the service. A pharmacist is rarely going to say " I'm currently on my break, can you come back later."  I believe that there needs to be a separate/ floater/ oncall pharmacist to cover for the pharmacist on break ( I've worked for places where there is only one for the 12 hr day) or that the pharmacy shuts down for the 30 min break ( less patient friendly option and more prone to robbery/ diversion) and that the pharmacist needs to vacate the premises during break with the white coat OFF.  I also believe that if a pharmacist wants to work, or is basically forced to work more than 12 hours due to unforseen causes etc, that the break should be 30 mins every 4 hours and be paid time and a half for those not on salary and some type of equivalent for those on salary. 

I am writing in staunch support of 18 VAC110-20-110, which would limit continuus work hours for pharmacists to not more than 12 continuous hours in a a work day and which would offer a 30 minute break after 6 hours. It is unconscionable that this even needs to mandated. Decent standards such as these are simple common sense, and will increase productivity by reducing fatigue and improving concentration. These rules should apply to all, but especially to those in a field such as this that demands intense attention to detail. 

This law has no meaning unless pharmacists are 'required' to leave their stores for that 30 minutes.  As a pharmacy technician, I often don't get to take the 30 minutes break althought there is a law that mandates it and my company does not provide any compensation for that 30 minutes of my work.  Many companies are cutting technician hours and do not provide enough tech helps for pharmacists.  Knowing how busy my pharmacist is, often times I cannot just leave the pharmacy to get my lunch break alone.  It is shocking how many pharmacists are not eating anything and standing on feet for whole 12 hour shift, but this is reality.  This should be changed. 

As a student pharmacist and pharmacy intern at CVS pharmacy, I have seen what it is with pharmacists not allowed to take a 30 minutes break in a 13 hours shift. In my opinion, this is not the best way to go about the proffession because the body as we all know needs some rest at some point. Working for 12 hours without break may affect the pharmacist parformance with can indirectly affect the treatment/services patients get from pharmacists.

I do not think that limiting a pharmacist to a 12 hour day will fix the issue that they are not taking breaks. Pharmacies should be allowed to break/shut down for at least 30 minute a day and not be obligated to take waiters, or fill prescriptions during this time unless there was an emergency situation to arise. However, most emergencies would land the patient in the ER and not their local retail chain store. Pharmacists whether working 8,10,or 13 hours a day shouldn't be limited.The hours worked isn't the problem, it's pharamcist not being allowed in "real life" to take a 30 minute break although their cooporations, etc. tell them to. Many community pharmacists (unless completely caught up or are priviledged to work in a store with overlap) feel too burdened to actually take the time and this is the problem. The problem is the community pharmacy system and the catering to unnecessary customer complaints due to their "fast food" concept of pharmacy drive-thru and dispencing services. Pharmacists need the Board to back them up and legally profess that all pharmacies must halt production for at least 30 minutes each day if the work day is 12 hours or more to insure that a pharmacist can truly rest and restore in order to increase patient safety.

Thank you for bringing the topic of 12-hour+ work days to our attention. As a pharmacist that works 12-hour shifts In a community setting, I would truly appreciate the break to reduce mental and physical fatigue. I feel that with a break I would be more confident in keeping public safety at the forefront of my profession. Knowing that I am the final check during the 12-hour shift leaves an immense burden that could safely be minimized through mandatory breaks. Thank you again for your consideration. Please favorably find the proposed regulation for increasing public safety.

Anonymous Jan 2, 2016

All that I know was that where I live the 2 CVS pharmacy managers with > 20 years each with the company were fired on the same day rumored to be due to "metrics". A recent graduate I know had an interview with CVS and was told "they are slowly weeding out the old guys". After double-digit years of above average reviews with my company I was given a poor rating by a new supervisor (no longer with the company) and demoted from my position to fast-track another employee to a supervisor position (that didn't happen). A pharmacist locally in a third company spoke his mind to a supervisor (no such thing as an open door policy) and was subsequently transferred to a more remote location from where he lives. All levels of management live on metrics only. Work hard, do your job, take care of your patients but don't completely trust your management at any level.

Anonymous May 6, 2015

I worked for Walgreens for 12 years in San Diego and 2 years at CVS between 2010 and 2014. CVS in San Diego create an extremely hostile working environment for ALL store and pharmacy employees especially pharmacists. I have been a floater pharmacist for CVS since 2008 and I have seen it all. In 2008, they hired a 30 year old Pharmacy District Supervisor who came in and fired and harassed numerous of older pharmacists INSIDE the pharmacy, using derogatory term regarding their age and performance based on CVS metrics. Terms like you are too old to work or too slow. They wrote up numerous counselings on pharmacists, pharmacist techs daily, weekly and fired them at their wish. They keep moving pharmacists around against their will to other stores and keep replacing with new pharmacy graduates and FORCED them to be pharmacist managers or get fired. They took advantage of the 2007 economic crisis and the abundance of pharmacists to keep threaten pharmacists to comply with their metrics or else face the ultimate penalty of getting fired. I have personally seen numerous of firings of pharmacists, techs on the job without any justifications. The average lifespan of a pharmacy manager is 6 months. Pharmacists are leaving CVS at an alarming rate. The 'don't care" and "it' s me or the "highway" altitude display CVS' arrogance and disrespect for human dignity is beyond imagination.

Anonymous Apr 3, 2015

I am 68 years old and after 6 months working at a CVS pharmacy that had been open for 10 months I was given a choice of having my hours cut from 30 hours/week to 5-10 hours/week. This store has never met it's metric goals. This was part of their solution!? I was told that my job performance was fine. Also at a earlier date we were told that we could only take at most a 15 minute break to eat something or eat while working or not at all. This is when working 10-14 hour shifts. The possibity for med errors increase under these conditions. It is my opinion that CVS does not care about employee or patient health. I do not understand how stopping the sale of tobacco but continue to sell alcohol shows real concern over a persons health.

AnonymousApr 1, 2015

Oh yeah? And I can present to the clown DeAngelis the write ups that led to the termination of my partner(who was about 60)and me(nearly 40). The write ups specifically say, and I quote"on performance warning for failing to exhibit the ability to deliver and drive various business results. Some of which include" PCI(AO, NSPU) KPM and Service targets" This write up was copied and pasted by my DM 3 times. I was explicitly told to my face that they have a big line of new grads willing to take my job. More, according to my DM running a store dispensing 400-500 prescriptions per day with 1 pharmacist and 1-2 techs is perfectly fine, as long as you can manage your techs.

AnonymousMar 31, 2015

...the same unfair criminal practice happened to me back in Las Vegas 2010,the vice president of operations for the whole District made up a special metric system just for me because I questioned in a big meeting when he he announced all pharmacist are expected to, on their days off, to go out, no reimbursement ,procure and work to generate flu shot clinics saying it was part of the job description when we got hired. He then forced me to sign a special document, that no other R.Ph had to sign, saying I had to meet metrics of 95% across the board, and that I was going to be reevaluated every two weeks and if I did not meet those metrics, I would than be rated as "not meeting expectations". I than got ahold of HR who got the document dismissed, but I was forced to quit because superiors started coming in once a week 'writing' me up, for example a dirty sink, due to a few smudges. Doing more than 600 rx's a day as well as immunizing,no overlap coverage, they than cut my tech grid weekly from 325 hr to 175,20% reduction every week. Unfair labor practices permeate this whole organization.

What other health care profession can you go into that will guarantee you work long hours, without a formal break, and expected to fullfill dispensing quotas and a failure to do so WILL cost you your job------PHARMACY. The state of retail pharmacy has changed for the worse. Due to all time low 3rd party reimbursement practices and an inability to compete with mail order pricing guidelines. The current retail pharmacy outlet faces EXTINCTION. Your conventional drug stores like CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid have employed Pharmaceutical Metrics to "justify" eliminating older pharmacist in exchange for lower paid pharmacists, right out of school, so they can pay them less money and overall inject Millions if not Billions of dollars into an industry to satisfy financial goals of the company while putting more veteran/skilled pharmacists out of work. They set up dispensing metrics which directly contradict what they say they want us to do, which is spend more time counseling and managing patients health care challenges and less time dispensing YET many of the company metrics are time sensitive in reference to completing the dispensing process, which endangers public safety and health. Pharmacist's today have to choose between taking care of patients needs or satisfying company metrics. If the company metrics aren't satisfied the company will surely seek retribution including no raises, working on days off without pay, or ultimately TERMINATION! The time is now for the governing board of our great profession to stand up and put a STOP to this corporate bullying and greed!

As pharmacists have moved from being employers to being employees, we have not been able to take some of the "luxuries" like bathroom breaks and lunch breaks with us.  The pharmacy metric driven corporate philosophy has removed much of the pharmacists ability to be able to sit down for 30 minutes to refresh themselves. I have worked for an employer before that shut the phones off for 30 minutes each day so that the pharmacist could have a break and that was a great time to step away and gather yourself for the rest of the day.  Patients got used to the lunch concept and were for the most part respectful of it. People could still drop off and pick up during this time but nothing would be checked during this time. We need the board to step in and require this for patient safety because without board support the corporations will never implement it.