They're Heeere....

What's here?

Flu shots.

Already?

Yes. Start pushing them. Get that money in here. Momma needs a new pair of shoes.

It's too early to give flu shots.

No, it's not. Harvard Medical School says the best time is "anytime." See: LINK. NOW is anytime, so push the flu shots.

I read that article. What it actually says is "anytime you can." That's not the same thing. The article goes on to say the ideal time is October.

No, push them now. We want to get the business before Wagmart and Flea Circus Drugs. This is about protecting our patients before they do.

So what you really mean is that it's about money.

Whatever. Just push the flu shots.

The Center for Disease Control says to get the vaccination before the flu starts spreading in our area. We really don't see the flu in our area until December or January. This coincides with the CDC saying to get by the end of October at the latest. That seems more in line with having the patient best protected for the flu season. Pushing the flu shot now is not truly what's best for our patients. See LINK.

Listen, bud, you work for a company that NEEDS this revenue stream to survive. Just push the flu shots, pill boy.

We seemed to survive as a pharmacy for decades before flu shots were ever given by pharmacists. More likely this is just a cash cow for the company. And since it's so lucrative, why can't the company let go with a little of that money for more tech hours, especially since offering vaccinations is a burden on the already over-worked pharmacy?

Hey, don't bring logic into this. Just you never mind. Push the flu shots and do it now. We need the revenue so we can give upper managers bonuses and pay for all these gift cards we're handing out for new and transferred prescriptions.

I'm a pharmacist because I care about people's health. If I'm pushing something just for revenue and not for patient care, that's not only a contradiction, it's immoral.

Oh, don't be so dramatic! Besides, if your store does more immunizations than any of the other stores in your division, you'll get a free pizza lunch, paid for by the company! How's that for incentive?

You are aware that the same store wins that competition every year, right? They're the ones that's one of only two pharmacies in their whole rural town. At my store, there's two pharmacies, two urgent cares, and a physician's office within walking distance. That doesn't even consider that there's even more pharmacies within a three mile radius. We can't compete with that!

You're making excuses. Use that energy to push flu shots. If you increase your script count you'll get more tech hours! Now there's some incentive for you!

I've seen that promised before. Somehow the follow through never seems to happen. I don't think we're communicating here.

Oh, we're going to communicate! We're going to have conference calls on a weekly basis and discuss how everyone is doing with the promotion. We'll have these calls on Monday morning at 10am when you're all busy. You can skip the call if you have met that week's goals. But it's not a punishment. Oh no, don't think that.

I know about the conference calls. That's where you spend 5-8 minutes taking roll and then 3-5 minutes putting some poor tech or pharmacist on the hot seat by grilling them about their "action plan."

You need to get excited about the program! This is why you got into health care to begin with! To protect the public!

I guess I'll just ignore this article which talks about why people shouldn't get their flu shot too early. We'll just ignore those facts.

Good minion. Good. Here, have another shot of Kool Aid.