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Workplace Ethnography Guide: Walgreens Pharmacy Services

Introduction

A pharmacy is an important place for patients who are sick. Many of them require

medication after the physician has made a diagnosis. They are told to take a certain medication

for a certain amount of time in a certain schedule. All of this can be confusing, so a pharmacy

must maintain clear and understandable communication with the patient in order for them to be

treated correctly. It is also important for the employees at a pharmacy to communicate and

collaborate with each other for efficient service and high satisfaction for customers. I have

performed ethnographic research on a particular pharmacy, a Walgreens pharmacy, located on

the intersection of Joe Battle Blvd. and North Zaragoza road. I conducted observations of the

business and I met with the pharmacy manager, Deborah Compean, and interviewed her. We

discussed the mediums used in the workplace, specialized language that pharmacies use, how

employees communicate with patients, other audiences that pharmacies speak with, and goals

that the pharmacy tries to meet.

Goals

While there isnt an exact quota that the pharmacy has to reach, it does have a mission to

meet sales/profit goals that are made by the company based on the previous years sales data. It

is a for-profit business, but its main mission is that it be the first choice for pharmacy, wellbeing

and beauty caring for people and communities around the world. Any other goals that the
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pharmacy makes is usually discussed in the weekly meetings that they hold. (personal

communication, April 5, 2017).

Communication with Patients

Communication between patients is mainly verbal. For example, Ms. Compean said that

the pharmacist must counsel a patient or patient representative when there is a new prescription.

Customers usually have face-to-face interactions or talk to the pharmacy through the phone.

They primarily use phones to contact the pharmacy to refill a prescription or to see if a

prescription is ready for pickup. Furthermore, Walgreens has an app for customers so they can

check on their prescription, remind them to refill a prescription, and update insurance

information (personal communication, April 5, 2017). Customers can also register their emails or

send text messages to their phones. The pharmacy will notify them if their prescription is ready

or if there is a delay.

Other Audiences

When I think of the typical audiences in a pharmacy, the three that come to mind are the

patient, the physician of the patient, and employees of the pharmacy. I wanted to know if there

was communication between other people or groups that I didnt know about. So I asked Ms.

Compean if there was communication between any other audiences. Ms. Compean told me that

of course the pharmacy has to maintain contact with the upper levels of management, which are

the distract and area management. She also explained that sometimes the pharmacy has to

communicate with third parties or insurance companies regarding the coverage of medications

that are non-formulary or require a prior authorization. I was confused to what a formulary was

and asked her to explain. She told me that a formulary is a list of medications that the insurance

company will pay for. She said that it is sometimes divided into tiers depending on if the
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medication is brand name or generic and the cost of the medication. Physicians or their

representatives will also call the pharmacy to resolve any issues with third-party (insurance)

issues. She then told me that sometimes, there are customers who have fraudulent prescriptions.

In these cases, they have to communicate with law enforcement agencies (personal

communication, April 5, 2017). It was shocking to me to hear firsthand how there are people

who would fake a prescription so they could get drugs. I dont think about illicit activities or the

intentions of people when I think of a local pharmacy. I always saw it as just a normal place

where people go to get medicine.

Mediums in the Workplace

The main type of communication in the workplace is verbal communication. Employees

share information through conversations they have between each other. As I waited in line to

speak with Ms. Compean, I saw firsthand how the pharmacy clerk, the one who is in charge of

the register, spoke with the patient and received the prescription. Then, the pharmacy clerk spoke

briefly with a pharmacy technician or the pharmacist and passed on the documentation needed to

fill out a prescription. Ms. Compean told me that they also hold short weekly meetings to discuss

and focus on pharmacy goals (personal communication, April 5, 2017). Emails are usually used

to communicate between corporate and area management. This is usually to follow up on the

business/corporate side of the pharmacy. Writing is also an important medium used in the

pharmacy. Employees use a specialized type of writing that will be discussed in the next

paragraph. This is used to print out the medication labels that go onto the medicine containers. Its

main purpose is to increase accuracy and efficiency in the workplace. If pharmacy technicians

and pharmacists had to write out everything onto a computer, it would cause delays and lower

customer satisfaction.
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Specialized Language

In the pharmacy, shorthand or medical abbreviations (sig codes) are used in order to

efficiently write prescriptions. Ms. Compean said that the computer would automatically read

these medical abbreviations and translate the sig codes into instructions on the medication labels.

The software is also efficient in translating the sig codes into other languages. Sig codes are

made after Latin abbreviations, which is efficient because medical students are taught to write

prescriptions in this way. However, a recent form of writing prescriptions that more physicians

or practitioners are beginning to use is electronic based prescription software. This new system

sends the prescription directly to the pharmacy through fax or other software. In this method, the

prescription is usually typed out and uses very few abbreviations. This new method is

advantageous by reducing prescription error. This is because some handwritten prescriptions are

illegible and so having them typed will reduce the chance of misreading the prescription

(personal communication, April 5, 2017).

Other jargon that the pharmacy uses are 1 po bid, AAA qd, and 2 gtts ou qid. For

1 po bid, this means take one tablet/capsule by mouth twice daily. For AAA qd, it means

apply to the affected area every day. Finally, 2 gtts ou qid means place two drops in both eyes

four times daily (personal communication, April 5,2017).

Conclusion

One interesting observation that stuck to me was how the pharmacy differs in writing

prescriptions from the physicians and practitioners. It is surprising to me because both systems,

the sig codes and the electronic based prescription software, are basically opposites. The sig

codes uses abbreviations and the electronic based software method uses very few abbreviations. I

believe both systems are used because in a pharmacy, the employees are taking care of hundreds
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of prescriptions. They have many prescriptions to fulfill, and having to type out everything can

cause typing errors on the label and increase the amount of time in writing. Having a set

abbreviation system can efficiently and accurately improve the writing of prescriptions.

However, physicians and practitioners do not have to worry about as many prescriptions as

pharmacies do. The more important worry is that the patient is given the proper medication. With

handwritten sig codes, there is a higher chance of the pharmacy to improperly fill out a

prescription. With the electronic based prescription software, it might take more time to write a

prescription. But since it is allows for more accuracy, I believe thats why it is used instead of the

sig codes.

Because a Walgreens pharmacy is meant to be a for-profit business, it may seem that the

goals of the company are to have better sales and grow so that they are profitable. However, the

employees who work in the pharmacy strive for efficient and high quality service. This is

evidenced by the specialized language, the multiple mediums of communication, and the

commitment to efficient and accurate flow of information between patient, physician, and

pharmacy.
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References

D. Compean, personal communication, April 5, 2017.