First of all, I have to state that the following is solely my own opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions and philophy of Pharmacy Purchasing Outlook nor Summerdale Enterprises, Inc. This is just one buyers' outraged rant on the state of the profession.

I just came back from the ASHP Mid-Year where I was subjected to a number of insults.

First, I attended the ASHP Press Conference, where the leaders of ASHP mapped out their plans for the coming year. They all spoke of a "Patient Safety Culture", where practioners must do whatever it takes to insure that healthcare is safe for the patient. They mentioned that there is a push to register all technicians and standardize their competencies across the board. I'll go into detail in the newsletter about that. When I pressed them to see what are they planning for Pharmacy Buyers, who have an entirely different set of responsibilities and priorities than the average technician, it took them by surprise, as if this was the first time they've ever heard the concept (it's not, because Dale attended these press conferences and brings up buyer issues every time). When I did get a response, I was told that purchasing has really become a speciality in Pharmacy and should be "revisited".

I expected that type of response from a group that thinks pharmacists handle shortages, but what I wasn't prepared for was the response I got from the attendees of the Convention. When we were handing out our information to the attendees, we'd ask, "Who does your buying for your Pharmacy?" The responses varied from "I don't know", to "One of my techs", to "Our GPO" to "The Pharmacy Purchasing Committee", and, my personal favorite, "The secretary, I guess". Only the very smallest minority said, "My Buyer"

We've got some serious PR to do!

The leading pharmacist organinzation in the country barely acknowledges our profession's existence, and the rank-and-file pharmacist believes the drugs magically appear on the shelves each day. And even though each of you has earned the the respect and acknowledgement from your individual workplaces, as a profession, we're practically a non-entity!!!

And we're not helping ourselves, either. Out of the 500-plus subscribers for PPO, we've collected less than 130 valid responses to the survey. YOUR survey! How can we be taken seriously as a profession when we don't even want to help ourselves? We can't mobilize the 6,200 potential members of a buyers organization if we can't get the 500 who are interested to take a 5-minute survey.

I was president of APT back in the Eighties, and I distinctly remember saying the same things back then. In fact, some of the pharmacists who attended the convention this year remembered me from that time. Don't let history repeat itself. It took from 1968 to 1995 for technicians to get some professional credibility. Some of us don't have 30 years to wait that long again.

It's a very simple thing I'm asking. Contact your network of buyers and ask them if they've taken the survey. If you contact them by email, you can cut and paste the direct link to the survey here and add it to your email: http://ppo.pagehere.master.com/texis/master/search/+/form/Pharmacy%20Purchasing%20Outlook%20Wage%20and%20Task%20Survey.html

In the end you'll actually be doing yourself a favor.

Name of Facility: Summerdale Enterprises, Inc.

City, State: Publishing

Years as a Buyer: 30+

I second Mike - Everyone PLEASE do the survey... it doesn't take long at all.

I just have one comment... (as with Mike, this is solely my opinion)

I'm sure that pharmacist knows who does their buying when they have a problem. Seems like people can't remember my name when I've done something right but they know my name, DOB, blood type, etc. when they think I've done something wrong.

If ASHP is so concerned about standardizing tech competancies, I hope they also decide to make patient safety a larger focus than just a few pharmacists. Just this week I got raked over the coals for changing to Baxter's new heparin safety packaging... FOR NO REASON. One technician was overheard saying it was a "waste" (of what I'm not sure, we cycled through our current stock first, I didn't even bother asking them to change out the Pyxis machines). I'm sure if it was their child being treated, they'd want all possible safety measures taken. Atleast in my facility, technicians don't seem to be aware of patient safety issues at all.....

Years as a Buyer: 1+

This whole thread will probably not be published...
Your observation is very funny, but sad and true. As the buyer, you're a non-person, until a) someone wants something, or b) something went wrong. It may not even be your fault (Ex. "Colleen, the fires in San Diego - What did you do???"), but somehow, the buck stopped at your desk. We've got to show we're the cure, not the cause of all their problems.

We've got to prove that we're the first line of defense for patient safety. We're the ones who identify look-alike/sound-alike drugs; we spot the improper labelling; heck, we're the ones that find the broken chemo vials before anyone even sees them!

But the first step is visibility, and the survey is one step in that direction.

BEAT THAT DRUM!

Name of Facility: Summerdale Enterprises, Inc.

City, State: Publishing

Years as a Buyer: 30+

This is serious. How do we get recognized?

Name of Facility: Kern Medical Center--222 beds

City, State: Teaching, Acute care, Trauma II

Years as a Buyer: 6

The key word, Munira, is we. You alone won't be able to do much. I won't make much of a difference. We'll be dismissed as kooks or troublemakers. We need the other 500 subscribers, or better yet, the other 6,200 potential Pharmacy Buyers to proclaim their profession does not relagate them to a 'glorified technician' position.
Until there's a mass, unified voice shouting to Pharmacy, we won't exist as a recognized profession. So you see, we have to take the first step, and we have to do it as a profession, not just individual professionals.

End of Soapbox

Name of Facility: Summerdale Enterprises, Inc.

City, State: Publishing

Years as a Buyer: 30+

I'm really not sure we can do anything much more than what we're doing now (united or not) until Pharmacy Directors, Pharmacy Managers and CFOs view our positions as more than just "glorified technicians".

I gave my DOP and Rx Manager a copy of the article that PPO publishes about once a year about great technicians not making great buyers... what did they do a month later? Let one of their "best technicians" take over 80% of my job b/c they (the technicians) didn't like my new schedule change...

Well, that lasted 3 weeks, budget was 50% over that month. Did anyone learn a lesson? NOOOOOPE!

Years as a Buyer: 1+

If things went back to normal (before the technician changes), then somebody learned a lesson. Especially if that person had to go to their supervisor and explain why the budget was out of whack.
Management is not invunerable. When something affects the bottom line, somebody is going to answer for it!
We may not always see it, but when something changes, then changes right back, someone returned to work with a little less butt - 'cause part of it was chewed off!

Name of Facility: Summerdale Enterprises, Inc.

City, State: Publishing

Years as a Buyer: 30+

Oh... the best part? I forgot to mention.....

I got called in to help my DOP do the report as to why we were so over budget because even though the tech was doing the order, I was still "responsible" for the budget...

I told him to ask her because I can't have responsibility without authority and I can't unsend an order she'd already sent.

I have to admit, it was interesting watching them scramble, but sadly, things haven't changed.

Years as a Buyer: 1+

Then what you're going to have to do is take the budget for that month and rub his nose in it, saying firmly, but not angrily, "No! Bad Report! Bad Report!"

Name of Facility: Summerdale Enterprises, Inc.

City, State: Publishing

Years as a Buyer: 30+

ASHP will never fully recognize techs or buyers because they are all pharmacists—so many pharmacists believe that if you don’t have RPh or PharmD behind your name, you don’t know anything or matter when it comes to pharmacy matters. I have been told many times that pharmacy does not need Techs—“we made it just fine without techs for many years”. Well, I say go ahead and try. When the shelves are empty and the budget is out of wack in less than 2-4 weeks, then someone will notice.

When I left my last job, I was told about a month later, “I never knew how much work you did. I thought you should have hours of extra time.” He literally thought I just typed in an order—and he was my manager! They just don’t have a clue until they are without us.

I hope members will step up, but people just don’t want to get involved.

James

Name of Facility: Cardinal Health

Years as a Buyer: 6