Saturday, June 11, 2011

Working on Saturday

I don't work a lot of weekends now that I work full time, which I consider a perk! This Saturday was a different story, but for good reason. I had my doctor's appointment set for Thursday, so I switched off with one of our other technicians. I just have to say though, I hate working Saturdays!

The weekends are usually our least busy days, due to the fact that most doctors' offices are closed. There are no prescriptions sent in, which cuts down on our volume. Most of what we do on the weekends is fill refills and ring people up as they pick up their ready prescriptions. But what about all the "free time" we have??? Trying to find something to do can be frustrating, since we like to keep everything in check at all times. So when we do have a spare moment, there's not much to choose...

Saturday is usually project day, the day when we work on things we didn't have time to do during the week. This usually entails a thorough cleaning of the entire pharmacy, and any other projects that need to be done. Today's project for me was re-setting the shelves, which we usually do every few months. It's boring, tedious work, but at least it's something to do! Did I mention that I don't like working Saturdays?

Even though on busy days I might not admit it, I prefer working on busy days. Of course, we'll be having a lot more busy days now that corporate cut ten hours from our weekly labor budget. Luckily, my hours won't be affected, but that does mean less help when we are busiest. Summer is usually less busy that fall and winter historically, mostly due to the fact that people aren't getting sick as often. Also, patient compliance goes down due to vacations, nice weather, and kids being out of school. But still, there are times when we need that one extra person so that we don't go crazy running around with four or five things to do! Oh well; hopefully by the time flu season rolls around again, we'll get our hours back. I just hope I don't have to work a bunch of Saturdays between now and then...

2 comments:

Gretchen said...

I too would much rather be busy at work. I am definitely getting that right now. What do you mean by patient compliance goes down in the summer? Do people stop taking their maintenance medications?

Sean M. said...

Yep, that's exactly what happens! Some people think that they don't have to take their blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol medicines during the summer. It would make sense not to take as many depression or anxiety medicines, since increased sunlight is related to mood and happiness, but just because you feel happier doesn't mean you still don't need the maintenance meds!