Action | Pharmacy working conditions |
Stage | Emergency/NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 11/22/2023 |
As a regular pharmacy customer, I am completely fed up with the abysmal lack of adequate staffing in my local pharmacies. It does not seem to matter where I go--Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aid--they are all understaffed and have ridiculously long wait times. The staff are pulled between drive-through windows and inside counters, with neither being fully-manned. My prescriptions are rarely ready on the same day they are called in by my doctor. I should not have to wait for 3 hours to pick up my antibiotic when I am trying to get home from the doctor and get to bed. A few weeks ago, I received a call that my immunization, which I had scheduled several days in advance, was cancelled because the pharmacy was not going to be able to open that day, as they had no pharmacist. Another friend told me that she had experienced the same thing at another pharmacy. Why are there not enough personnel to keep pharmacies open??? I know that there are at least 4 pharmacy schools in Virginia pumping out full classes of new pharmacists every year, so how is it that there are not enough pharmacists working to keep stores open? I can only surmise that the work environment is so toxic that many of these graduates are unwilling to work in these pharmacies. There is absolutely no reason why I should walk into a pharmacy, with phones ringing, people waiting for immunizations, and people lined up to pick up prescriptions and find that only one pharmacist is working--with no support staff at all! It's not enough. And no one is filling prescriptions at all! Please, Virginia. Fix this! We need our medications, and we need them filled on time.