Thanks for the information, peri. That’s exactly what I was looking for.
I’ve been holding off on explaining what my complaint is because I’m afraid that I’ll be accused of overreacting. But I do have some pharmacy experience. I worked in a drug store for 2 years in high school, and I frequently assisted in the pharmacy department. If nothing else, I feel confident in saying that I have some idea what goes on back there.
What I observed was that the pharmacist was filling prescriptions while listening to talk radio (some sort of sports commentary program). Furthermore, he apparently had no one assisting him, so he was dealing with customers at the same time.
When I worked in the pharmacy, I observed that it was common for the pharmacists to make errors, but they caught the errors before the drugs went to the customers. Typical errors included grabbing the wrong pill bottle off of the shelf and putting the pill container into a bag labeled for another customer. As I said, these mistakes were caught and corrected–because the pharmacists were paying attention to what they were doing.
It concerns me that this pharmacist, who was already in a potentially distractible situation because he had to deal with customers at the same time as filling prescriptions, voluntarily added another distracting element to his work environment.
The fact that it was talk radio rather than music is really the factor that disturbs me. Talk radio is something that you actively listen to, rather than something in the background. Even if you are not paying much attention to the program, something will often catch your ear, and you will turn your attention to what is being discussed.
I spoke to the store assistant manager, who said that the pharmacist frequently listens to the radio.
Of course, a mistake in dispensing prescriptions is potentially very dangerous, even fatal. The pharmacist should try to ensure that he can give as much of his attention as possible to getting it right.