Pharmacists giving injections!?!

[chevyv, BSN, RN]

I went into a a local store the other day to get a presription filled. I saw a sign that said basically get your flu, tetorifice, meningitis, and other vaccinations right there. My first thought was "Great, I missed the flu shots given at work and they take my insurance." I went onto read that the vaccinations are given by specially trained pharmacists that took a course. I was a bit upset reading this. I don't want to fill my pts meds and I don't want a pharmacist who took an hour course to be thinking that is enough training to safely do part of my job!

Am I overreacting? Just seems like nursing should remain nursing. Once they start this, who knows what's next!

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

This is actually happening nationwide. Pharmacists are being trained and allowed to give flu shots and other vaccines. I have to say, if they are properly trained on the technique, what's the big deal? No one knows the side effects/medication info better than a pharmacist.

[Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN]

I think you are overreacting, pharmacists are highly trained members of the healthcare team. giving an injection is not rocket science and if MA's can do it in a doctor's office I believe that a pharmacist who has a plethora of drug knowledge and who must have taken some sort of class to administer an injection is more than qualified to give a vaccine.

I also highly doubt that pharmacist would want to the job of an RN so your job security is intact.

[Sun0408, ASN, RN]

First semester nursing student work flu clinics and volunteer at the hospitals to give flu vaccines.. I am sure the pharmacist knows where the deltoid is and is more "educated" than a nursing student to give an injection.. Lay people are taught to give themselves IV abx, injections etc.. I am sure the pharmacist can doing just fine..

I see your point tho :)

[Nomijen]

A monkey could give shots, Nurses are so much more :)

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

My personal opinion with all due respect:

1. Pharmacist are highly intelligent for the most part. I'm pretty sure they can safely give a simple injection after a one hour training course. It's really not brain surgery.

2. I highly doubt we will ever see a pharmacist begging to be allowed to do a nurses job for a nurses wage.

3. I think there are bigger fish to fry.

[79Tango]

I dont want my Pharmacist jumping over the counter to give me CPR but they sure have to have BLS if they want to work here!

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

I think you're over-reacting. An hour is more than enough time to learn how to give an IM injection properly. I think that's about how much time we spent on them in nursing school. We teach parents to give IM's to their children. There are some really complicated parts of nursing, but giving immunizations isn't one of them.

[jesskidding, LPN]

I don't think it's a big deal. Like someone said before, giving shots is not that hard. I would let a pharmacist give me a flu shot.

In my first semester of nursing school we volunteered to give flu shots and we had only been in school for 2 months. Plus, we had only watched a skills video and practiced on a dummy. Not hard at all to do.

It's not like they ship a box of flu shots to the pharmacy and say "Hey! Start injecting people!" They are trained to do it. If Medical Assistants can do it, so can they. Honestly, I would rather have a pharmacist give it to me than a MA. Just sayin'.

[chevyv, BSN, RN]

Well seeing the responses, I may be needing to lighten up a bit. I'll work on it, but still rubs me the wrong way......:)

[Palliative Care, DNP]

My husband is the specially trained pharmacist of whom you speak. He has a Doctorate in Pharmacy and trust and believe in all of his education he received way more than an hour on injections and giving them:rolleyes:

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Giving injections is easy, but, I am sure pharmacists would rather be doing pharmacist stuff. This is just added irritation for them. But since a pharmacist salary is set, all the pharmacy chains are doing is just adding to their workload, and profiting hugely as flu shots cost what is it like a buck or two, but they sell for about $30. This is huge and easy profit for the grocery and pharmacy chains. Big money they pocket now that nursing has been eliminated.

Nursing is losing ground in many areas that used to be viable for extra income. Now, it's clear nurses who used to rely on flu shot clinics for some extra cash can no longer for the most part, but at a few areas. The big chains of drug stores and grocery stores across the country no longer hire nurses to be involved. Sad for new grads looking for just something to do with themselves and earn a little money as a nurse while waiting for a real job to come along. Sadly, flu shot clinics was the only thing and now that's all but gone.