20/20 segment on pharmacy errors airs tonight

[Guest guest]

Hi All-

Here's a message I received from my state's pharmacy organization

(WSPA)

You should consider watching the program so that you will be prepared

when your customers or patients comment on the show.

Dora

******************************************************

Friday evening, March 30, " 20/20 " will air a story about medication

errors in pharmacy. You can use this link

(http://abcnews.go.com/2020/) to view a preview of the story on

the " 20/20 " home page. Wait until " Is your pharmacy error proof? "

pops up and click on the video link.

" 20/20 " goes right after Walgreen's in the first 15 seconds, and

talks to a pharmacist " threatened " for " not being able to keep up "

but then spend the bulk of the time going after techs " whose previous

job experience was serving popcorn. " " 20/20 " has been working on

this expose since August of 2006 so I'm sure that the depth and scope

of the full story will include other pharmacy locations.

In addition, " 20/20 " will explore the " deceptive practice " of

technicians asking patients to sign for " receipt of their

prescription " but what they are really doing is signing away their

right to speak to the pharmacist.

As indicated in previous communications, the issue of medication

safety and how pharmacy is stepping up, or not stepping up, to reduce

the incidence of medication errors will continue to attract media

attention. WSPA will be developing a press release as a response to

the story and will post that on our website immediately after the

story runs.

The press release will highlight our efforts to provide continues

quality assurance tools to our members (such as the Pharmacy Quality

Commitment `PQC' product), the fact that Washington State requires

additional post high school education for technicians, and that it is

everyone's job -- including consumers -- to try and help eradicate

this medical risk.

In addition, the " 60 Minutes " segment on lobbying by the

pharmaceutical industry will air this Sunday, April 1. The air date

is designed to coincide with the release of a report next week by the

Center for Public Integrity which claims that pharmaceutical

companies employ more than 1,100 lobbyists and have spent more than

$900 million in lobbying expenses and campaign contributions over the

past seven years. The segment also includes a portion on PhRMA

President and CEO Tauzin.