Lack of pharmacists curtails drugstore hours
If you have been to the Heights Pharmacy recently, you’re probably aware the hours of operation have been cut back.
A nationwide shortage of pharmacists to cover the hours needed in drug stores has reached the Island, and has resulted in the Pharmacy being unable to fill prescriptions as efficiently as the staff has done in the past. A sign on the door announces that Monday through Friday the pharmacy will continue to be open from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. But on Saturday, the hours will be from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the pharmacy will be closed on Sundays. These hours apply to the whole store and not just the pharmacy counter.
“In step with the rest of the nation, our pharmacy has also experienced staffing shortages and challenges with bringing on more pharmacists,” according to Hayden Soloviev, vice chairman of the Soloviev Group, which owns the drugstore.
“It’s not that we aren’t looking,” Mr. Soloviev said. “It’s that there’s such a shortage of pharmacists that it’s affecting everyone, both big and small. We’re very grateful for our pharmacist, who, while working for us, is also a mother of two.”
Media around the country have been reporting the shortage. The Washington Post in early 2023 reported many cases of burnout among pharmacists. CNN has reported that this year CVS, Walgreens and Walmart have had to curtail hours at many of their stores around the country. At Walgreens, the shortage dates back to 2022, according to CNN. On the North Fork, a CVS pharmacist in Mattituck was working alone late last week, alternating between filling prescriptions for a long line
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AMBROSE CLANCY PHOTO The Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy has had to reduce its hours of operation.
of customers and administering vaccines for several customers. The wait for the latest COVID-19 vaccine was an hour and a half. The pharmacist said plans called for a second pharmacist to handle vaccinations while he was to fill prescriptions, but the second pharmacist didn’t show up for work.
A Walgreens’ spokesman said it had to begin reducing hours at some of its stores. The National Community Pharmacists Association put out a survey showing more than three-quarters of community pharmacies are having a “tough time filling open positions.”
Applied Pharmacy, a service organization supplying information to and about the industry, said in January the shortages have been occurring for more than a year.
The Board of Trustees of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) said it’s not just the inconvenience of longer waits, but it “can have real life or death consequences. Stress among remaining over-tasked pharmacists can lead to medication errors or near misses.”
A little over a year ago, APhA sounded the alarm that “Pharmacist burnout (had) hit a breaking point, impacting patient safety.”
With increasing administrative and regulatory burdens, the organization reports “burnout” among many pharmacists, which certainly grew during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
