yeah it happens. We rarely count the meds ourselves and we assume that our assistants can count ... unfortunately its quite difficult to double check because the customer/patient gets annoyed waiting and that software is such a pain in the arse to communicate with the medical aids or in the case of state stock control with department of health. Also by law in the private sector we not allowed to keep prepacked meds which is quite strange since dispensing doctors do it, the manufactures do it but your pharmacist cant pack 20 generic paracetamols to sell quick quick if somebody doesnt have enough cash for banded products, so you cant take preventative steps to eliminate these human errors during your quiet time. stupid huh
We handle the medical aids, doctors scripts, labels, profiles and stock control and also check if the meds arent going to interact with anything you've taken recently or currently on. Generally if the pharmacist is doing nothing then it means they employed part time to fill in for the pharmacist on duty. You see this in clicks and dischem a lot, its not easy to take over the pharmacy suddenly for a few hours after someone else has been running it for months.
The assistants counting though have no excuse they are required to do exams and get a certification (kinda like a mini diploma) in order to get the job, one of those requirements is knowing how to package medication for dispensing.
So if you in the private sector and the owner of the pharmacy then they will do an excellent job because if they mess around they lose their job. As for the guys in franchises and state ... they simply dont care just there to earn the money with as little effort and if you say anything its a "you not my boss" or a "I will CCMA you" or some retarded nonsense. When I work for state hospitals on contract I dont swear them anymore I let the patient handle it (sad it has to even reach this stage). Now you get into trouble for disciplining poor practice and Im tired of disciplinary hearings lol - one would lose their temper when staff dont listen and almost kill people with their stupidity.
Its the same with Drs disciplining the nurse for poor practice. Its all nice to be civil but a strict military type attitude is required in health practice which our laws do not permit. They get away with "oh ok sooorrie" or "waah my bad" or "mistake how" and the patient's condition is deteriorating or worse they died (well my scenarios are extreme but thats what happens in hospital i dislike working in retail i dont like mixing business with healthcare call me naive). A Dr friend of mine got into a hearing because he swore the sister that left the patient (disabled) in the bathroom for a few hours. There was also a surgeon that got into trouble because he swore the sisters for preping the wrong patient for surgery - I would think swearing would be appropriate so that this type of stupidity will never happen again.
that said there is no excuse to leave out 60. I can tell by weight alone on most drugs if there is 5 or more short. What also annoys me is that no one clamps down on clicks/dischem for dressing their assistants up as pharmacists or clamps down on them for pretending to be pharmacists. In old school pharmacies the OTC meds are directly infront so if your assitant picks mad selections you can quickly stop them. In clicks/dischem they a totally seperate counter so how is a pharmacist suppose to pick it up ? somebody got bribed somewhere lol or perhaps this is the effect of consumers complaining about longish waiting periods
moral of the story always check your meds, the staff are people they will make mistakes and medicines arent cheap and it will be a headache trying to convince people days later when you notice. Always count then and there if you buying S5 and S6 as by law once you leave the premises that transaction is closed.
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