Right Away!

A patient comes in to pick up his medication. He's on Medicaid, so we don't have to deal with a co-pay. He wouldn't have the money anyway since he spent it on the Starbucks in his hand.

I ask him to sign out the medication. Simple enough, right? No. He's opening his bottle of meds and takes a tablet from each bottle and right there at the counter swallows them with his delicious Starbucks beverage.

"My doctor said I should start them right away," he says.

He signs the signature capture device which appears to be working today. Yay! Today I get to be a pharmacist instead of an unpaid IT guy that fixes the run down technology.

"I'm pretty sure he didn't mean you have to take them immediately," I say.

He looked at me like I'm the one with the problem.

Seriously, patients out there... when your doctor says start your medication right away, you can wait until you get home. I promise.