![]() ![]() That has led to frazzled workers and even temporary pharmacy closures. Staff shortages and a rush of vaccination-seeking customers are squeezing drugstores around the country. “In some states you have 60 or 70 pharmacies that are closing for days on end, because they don’t have the appropriate staff.” A sign outside a CVS pharmacy Dec. “Over the last five to six months, we’ve seen a spike in these conditions,” said Al Carter, the executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, a nonprofit organization that represents state pharmacy regulators. The shortage has led to dayslong waits for medication, shortened pharmacy hours and some prescription errors and vaccination mix-ups - like children receiving an adult Covid-19 vaccine shot instead of a flu shot - in a business sector in which delays and mistakes can have serious health consequences. At many drugstores, the pharmacy staff members who remain are stretched thin. It’s yet another of the labor shortages that have gripped the country this year. In recent months, many technicians have quit, saying they’re being asked to do too much for too little pay, increasing the possibility that they will fill prescriptions improperly.Įmployers, from major drugstore chains like Rite Aid, CVS and Walgreens to mom-and-pop pharmacies and even hospitals, are struggling to replace them. They help pharmacists fill and check prescriptions and make sure patients get the right medication in the right amounts at the right time. ![]() Even though they aren’t highly paid - the median pay is $16.87 per hour - and often have no pre-employment medical training, they are vital to the health care system. Strehl is one of about 420,000 pharmacy technicians in the U.S. “But all of the parts of my job that I truly enjoyed over the years had slowly just gone away.” “I always thought I would retire from that place,” Strehl said. Heidi Strehl with her husband and children in 2020. Then she grabbed her things, hugged her co-workers and walked out for the last time. A few days later, after yet another customer yelled at her over a delayed prescription, she had a panic attack in a corner of the pharmacy, crying and struggling to breathe while work continued around her. Strehl said she got an “insulting” 25-cent raise, bringing her to $15.08 an hour. “You’re far more likely to make a mistake and far less likely to catch it.” “It got to the point that it was just such an unsafe working environment, where you are being pulled a thousand different directions at any given time,” she said.
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