No breaks!

I've been through a few shifts as a pharmacist with my new employer (same as before, different location), and a few points of contention have come up that I need to find a solution for. The first is the lack of face to face patient time... to date it seems that mainly they're interested in my prescription checking abilities and not in my warm patient manner with patients, or related counselling/Medschecking abilities. I'm hoping it's not always going to be this way since that would not bode well - it's the patient contact that really keeps me doing this. Not as much of a deal-breaker as the second though... The second point is that contrary to what we discussed during the entry interview, the manager feels that pharmacists don't need to take breaks - that standing in one spot checking prescriptions for 8 hours or more (without bathroom breaks or a lunch break) is expected. I remember him saying as much to the students there as if it was a point of pride, that you need to get used to it or you won't succeed. I'm going to take a stab at getting a break in during a lighter period next shift, just to see how he reacts.

The sad thing is that he did address taking breaks during the entry interview before I transferred over... as if it was common, that it really depends on the load at the pharmacy and who you're working with at that time. Personally I think it's dangerous to do a whole shift without breaks: First your eyes can "glaze over" and you stop seeing things clearly making it more likely for errors to get through. If we were dealing with say a chair that might not be such a big deal, but with medication it can be harmful or even fatal. I actually had to slow down quite a bit towards the end of my last shift since I was catching myself on the edge of making mistakes. Second, putting patients at risk in that manner also puts your license at risk - putting your ability to practice at risk in this manner isn't worth it. Third, it's unnecessary and unpleasant. I get headaches and snappy if I don't get a break to eat partway through a shift, I don't want to be -that- person in the pharmacy that people are afraid to approach because I'm being -that- way.

Really, patients need to be put first and this practice does not put them first. Unless the place is swamped next shift I'm definitely going to fit one in, it's unreasonable otherwise.