Pharmacist Crisis: A Proposed Solution

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Health, Medicine, Science & Society

Ed Hessler

"A fun thing about journalism" according toTorie Bosch, Editor of STAT's First Opinion, is the excuse it provides "to be a professional eavesdropper, at least online." She spends some of her time on "forums divoted to medicine and health care" which she notes are "filled with stories of overwork and burnout."

Among the desperate-sounding posts are from "pharmacists, particularly those working for the big chains." Complaints include "working shifts without any backup, difficult customers, lack of support from management, and Christmas music."  These didn't hit me as the exclusive domain of pharmacists.

So Bosch looked for "a pharmacist to write a first-person essay about the challenges of their job right now, but unsurprisingly, the potential ramifications make people uneasy about sharing their grievances."

His essay, "Filling 12-month prescriptions is one way to help the pharmacist crisis" is both a wise and doable prescription, but may not come without resistance. Bosch describes the problem, several proposals that he thinks are "non-starters" and "one idea for something that might help." 

 

I very much liked that statement. One idea delivered with humility. It is this idea that takes up the majority of a thoughtful essay. It faces one major hurdle which is discussed: health care insurance and reimbursement.

In concluding his opinion piece  Bosch notes that he "once managed a pharmacy that provided six- and 12-month cash prescriptions to patients, and I can say that it works well once providers are educated about the option to prescribe extended quantities. Now, as a patient who now gets a 12-month supply of medication from a retail warehouse pharmacy, I absolutely love it. My doctor does, too — and, I bet, so do the pharmacists who only have to see me once a year."