Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Health Professions
 
Board
Board of Pharmacy
 
chapter
Regulations Governing the Practice of Pharmacy [18 VAC 110 ‑ 20]
Action Pharmacy working conditions
Stage Emergency/NOIRA
Comment Period Ended on 11/22/2023
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11/22/23  12:35 pm
Commenter: Taryn Fletcher

As a Patient and a medical assistant
 
  • Prescriptions not getting to the pharmacy
  • Pharmacists not filling prescriptions they are sent without a separate call to request that they do that
  • 30+ minute wait times just to speak to a pharmacist 
  • Understaffed pharmacies are so noticeable that you can literally just stand and watch the pharmacists run around like a chicken with their head cut off
  • Many pharmacies not being open during normal operating hours without warning

Professionally, I assist a psychiatric nurse practitioner. These are daily occurences that we have to deal with. The whole field is at a breaking point. As a patient, the last 3 months, with one of my prescriptions which is a habit-forming controlled substance, I was unable to pick up my medication on time 3 months in a row for the following reasons:
1. I was in Maine on vacation and my PMHNP didn't know about the new law that she could call it in to a pharmacy out of state and then transfer it so I was 7 days late that month.
2. The pharmacy never received the prescription from my PMHNP and it took me 7 days to get in touch with my prescriber to resend it. Had to finally send it to another pharmacy that I don't typically use.

3. said pharmacy lost my prescription in an attempt to transfer it back to my regular pharmacy and then my regular pharmacy could not get ahold of the other pharmacy to confirm a verbal transfer because they literally would not pick up the phone. 7 days late again.

I am very happy with my decision to not take my habit forming medication every day so as not to develop a physical dependency because clearly, I would have had to be hospitalized the last 3 months if I was taking that medication every day. 

The system is completely broken.

 

 

CommentID: 220702