This was sent to me by a follower on Twitter.
To the average person, it looks like a normal prescription, right? But to a pharmacist or pharmacy technician this sends chills down our spines.
Why?
What's so wrong?
YOU DON'T CUT FENTANYL PATCHES IN HALF.
If somehow this had made it the patient and the patient had cut a fentanyl patch in half it likely would have killed the patient or sent him/her to the hospital.
Thank your pharmacist and the techs that work with him or her. Don't pressure us to work faster to push out prescriptions. Be patient while we work hard and work smart.
We save your lives.
We keep you alive from prescription errors like this one.
If you simply don't understand what I've just said, reread it until you do.
OMG, I thank God for people like you every day! Most people do not realize how many lives are saved because of pharmacist knowledge and dedication to their job,
ReplyDeleteOMG Even this Muggle knows not to mess with a patch.
ReplyDeleteDoes the patch come in a lesser dose?
I remember being a teen and candy striper in local hospital. I was cleaning something and ferrying orders from the pneumatic tubes (yep, dark ages) to the techs and I heard the head pharmacist (aka God) SCREAMING into the phone, "I don't care who the **** you are. The (whatever it was )will kill the patient."
Yes, my ears pricked up at that. The alert ears heard the techs discussing that God was speaking to Dr. ThinksheisGod (THIG) and that this was not the first time the techs and other pharmacists had caught Dr. THIG in a bad error. The chatty one speculated on loss of license or other sanctions.
these patches are so powerful and the potential for abuse is so high.
ReplyDeleteFWIW a person who is using opiates and has built up tolerance does open the patch for use....and does not necessarily OD.
Yes, addiction is THAT powerful.
A few years ago a friend of mine practicing orthopedics in another town called me to ask if it was OK to cut fentanyl patches. At least she called before writing such a dangerous Rx.
ReplyDelete