
Pharmacy Web Series Represents the Dark Side of Community Pharmacy
The show highlights the aspects of the profession that can make it unbearable.
Amazon’s
I made a
Ironically, the pharmacy job issues that make community pharmacy unbearable are the same problems that plague this new series.
Written by a former pharmacy technician, "Vials" takes place in a store called Gateway Drug, with a cast of characters I do not really care about. It features a series of random events and a parade of predictable customers with an almost non-existent storyline.
The messages from the show, however, are unfortunately spot-on for many retail pharmacists.
1. The Gateway employees are indifferent to each other.
The owner and the pharmacy technician do not like each other, because the tech is dating the owner’s daughter, who also happens to be a pharmacist there. The tech, Joe, goes out of his way to antagonize the owner and create discord between him and his daughter, an unlicensed and yet practicing pharmacist.
I have worked in a retail setting before, and my coworkers and manager made no secret of the fact that
They caused me to doubt whether I had made the right career choice.
Ultimately, they drove me out of retail pharmacy, but they
2. Everyone at Gateway hates their jobs.
The narrator in the pilot episode of "Vials" explains that pharmacists are not protecting their patients’ safety because they care about them. They are doing it to avoid liability if something bad happens.
The narrator reports that one pharmacist looks as though she wants to "eat a bullet."
A 2013 study of pharmacists’ job satisfaction found that more than
"Vials" has more than 400 ratings, the majority of which are positive and praise the show. However, a closer look shows that the higher star ratings do not say much more than "love this" or "very relatable."
For this many people to highly rate "Vials" demonstrates the harsh reality of many retail pharmacists, and it might not resonate with those outside the profession.
3. Gateway Drugs features a “lifetime of anxiety and a shortage of Xanax.”
The owner of the pharmacy is so stressed out by the job that he regularly turns to Xanax to counteract it.
The customers are "vile," but the narrator allows for the possibility that perhaps their doctors did not prescribe the right medication or dose, or maybe the patients do not feel well.
In either case, it is a hostile work environment for everyone involved.
Although pharmacists do have a
4. Gateway Drugs is ripe for corporate takeover.
In the final moments of the pilot (spoiler alert), pharmacy-tech-turned-attorney Joe discovers that Gateway is being considered for takeover. News that the owner’s daughter is working as an unlicensed pharmacist has leaked via email.
The fallout will certainly result in more anxiety, infighting, and hostility in the pharmacy.
Unlike the dental and medical professions, the pharmacy field does
The reality is that other jobs are available, and by
Pharmacists who find that "Vials" strikes a chord should check out an online and free-of-charge summit I am putting on right now. The
Those who work in a community pharmacy may get a few laughs from "Vials" or maybe a painful reminder
that this is not why they chose the profession.
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