When the trade union of pharmacy workers started to collect the experiences of the workers, it became clear that most of the expressed problems are repeated regardless of the city or the specific pharmacy.
According to the employees, although the work of the pharmacy looks clearly organized from the outside, in reality it is increasingly common to encounter situations when one specialist has to do the work of several employees, while rest and proper working conditions remain in the background, the trade union’s statement to the media reads.
Employee testimonials point to systemic problems
In order to achieve efficiency and reduce the number of employees in shifts, the workload is increasingly falling on one specialist. A pharmacist today often becomes not only a specialist providing a pharmaceutical service, but also a manager of goods, an administrator and a performer of many other daily functions.
According to the union, this is not just a matter of employee convenience. The constant rush, physical and emotional fatigue and lack of opportunity to step away from the workplace can affect what is most important in the field of pharmacy – attentiveness, quality consultation and patient safety.
“The biggest problem is that pharmaceutical specialists have been talking about these working conditions for years, but real changes are happening too slowly. Today, we are not seeing isolated complaints, but recurring systemic problems in many pharmacies. We must not talk about individual cases, but about the organization of the work of the entire sector,” says Žydrūnas Mineikis, chairman of the trade union of pharmacy workers.
Author of the message photo/ Žydrūnas Mineikis
Lunch between clients and non-stop work
One of the most common problems mentioned by pharmaceutical specialists is the lack of real rest breaks.
Although lunch breaks are formally provided for, the experience of employees shows that in practice it is not always possible to take advantage of them. When working alone in a pharmacy or when there is an intense flow of customers, the opportunity to eat in peace becomes difficult to implement.
Employees talk about lunches eaten in a hurry, food that has been heated and cooled several times, short moments between serving patients or days when there is no opportunity to step away from the workplace even for a moment.
When one employee becomes a whole team
The work of a pharmaceutical specialist today is often not limited to counseling patients and dispensing medicines.
Among the patient service staff, they receive and handle goods, check expiration dates, prepare orders, change prices, perform administrative and other additional tasks.
Some specialists point out that one employee has to perform the functions of several positions at the same time, and the lack of support staff increases the burden even more. In some pharmacies, one pharmaceutical specialist serves more than two hundred patients a day.
“A pharmacy specialist makes decisions every day on which the health of patients depends. However, when a person works without a real opportunity to rest, eat or at least get away from the workplace for a while, we have to admit that the risk increases not only for the employee, but also for the patient. Fatigue is not only a problem for the employee – it is a question of patient safety,” emphasizes Ž. Minneiki
Another problem raised by employees is long-term standing.
Pharmacists spend most of their shift on their feet. According to employees, in some pharmacies there is no real opportunity to sit down regularly – the workplaces are not adapted for this, there is a lack of chairs or there is simply no time to use them due to the high work pace.
Rest room or warehouse?
According to the representatives of the trade union, it is necessary to assess not only whether conditions are formally created at the workplace, but also whether the employee can actually use them.
Rest areas for employees also raise questions. Although most pharmacies have the basic equipment – a refrigerator, a microwave or a kettle, the room itself does not always ensure quality rest.
Pharmaceutical specialists refer to cases where rest areas are used as warehouses or administrative premises – they store goods, documents or even medicines collected from residents for disposal.
Shutterstock photo/Medicines
A separate challenge is the working environment in pharmacies located in shopping centers.
Constant noise, people flows, music, various sound signals become an additional factor complicating the work that requires precision and concentration.
“The trade union emphasizes that a pharmaceutical specialist is not just a salesperson. He is a specialist who advises patients on health, so the working conditions must correspond to the level of this responsibility,” says Ž.Mineikis.
Real changes are needed
According to the trade union of pharmaceutical workers, long-term workload and insufficient attention to working conditions contribute to professional burnout, health problems, turnover and shortage of specialists.
The trade union calls on the responsible institutions and employers to assess not only the conditions stipulated in the documents, but also the real daily life of the employees – whether they can really rest, work safely and perform their duties well.
“Pharmaceutical specialists do not ask for privileges. They ask for basic things – the opportunity to rest, work in a safe environment, to have enough colleagues in the shift and to do their work well. If we do not solve these problems now, we may face a shortage of specialists in the future,” says the chairman of the Pharmaceutical Workers Trade Union Ž. Minneiki
