Why We NEED Pharmacists

Our job as pharmacists is to dispense the right medication to the right patient and make sure it is correct and appropriate. It's also our job to protect the patient, sometimes from the prescriber or doctor who wrote the prescription.

Above is an example. A careless pharmacist would just type this up as:

Dissolve one and one-half tablet under tongue twice daily as needed for pain.

But a good pharmacist would see the conflicting notes and if he or she didn't know the patient and history, he or she would call the doctor. This careless doctor actually wants the patient to take one tablet in the morning and one-half tablet in the pm.

What would happen if this patient was given incorrect instructions? Probably not much. But with a different drug this could be catastrophic.

Think about that the next time you're pressuring your pharmacist to hurry with your prescription.

Pharmacists are SUPER HEROES

Doctors often write odd prescriptions. Here's one:

So how do we interpret this prescription? Is the patient sleeping all day long and waking up to take more Xanax every eight hours? Or perhaps the patient is so anxious throughout the day that taking Xanax three times a day helps with sleep in the evening? 

That's what I assumed when I filled the prescription. Unfortunately, when I counseled the patient on taking the medication, she was in complete confusion as well. That happens a lot with prescriptions. The patients have NO IDEA what they're getting or why they're getting it in a lot of cases. 

Most probably aren't listening when their doctor is telling them exactly how and why they're taking the medication being prescribed. In other cases, however, I feel like doctors and prescribers are in such a hurry to get to the next patient that they overlook some important details.

That's why we have pharmacists. We're here to sort it all out for you. We go to battle every day in your behalf. In fact, here's a video of me at the pharmacy right now:

Be nice to your pharmacist. We're the silent super heroes of the healthcare industry.

Poor Handwriting Leads to Patient Death

If you haven't read the article about the culpability in the case of a woman who died as the result of a prescription error, you SHOULD. Here is a LINK to the article.

This story is a horrible tragedy for the victim and family. My heart aches for them because this was preventable on every level.

I disagree, however, with the outcome:

The jury deliberated for two days before finding Dr. F negligent. The jury awarded the family a total of $380,000: $250,000 for Mrs. D's pain and suffering, $110,000 for loss of companionship, and $20,000 for funeral expenses. The jury, however, also determined that the hospital was 90% at fault and Dr. F was only 10% at fault.

What I disagree with is that Dr. F is considered "10% at fault."

This is an OUTRAGE. 

NONE of this would have happened if the doctor had been careful in the beginning. His carelessness cost this lady her life. Ten percent at fault? Really? 

I check prescriptions EVERY day written by careless doctors. Doctors who can't take an extra thirty seconds to make their prescriptions legible. Doctors who write two, three, four, or more prescriptions on one standard size prescription pad like they're having a paper shortage, doctors that misspell, doctors who get the dose wrong, the strength wrong, the instructions wrong.

I've talked to doctors and their staff about their piss-poor handwriting skills. I've asked them to slow down. The response is always the same: Indifference. They treat me like I'm the one with the problem.

Here's some examples from JUST THE PAST WEEK:

This isn't hand written, but it's awkward. If we translated it as written, it would read "Take 1/2 to 1 as needed at night before going to bed by mouth."

Pharmacists deal with this crap every day.

Take a look at this one:

Chew one drop in both eyes? How do you do that?

Ok, enough of the silly stuff. Here's something really serious:

This script was presented to ME. I took the photograph. Six prescriptions were written on two pieces of paper. They were obviously written in a hurry. The script above asks for Isosorbide Mononitrate ER 300mg. 

300mg would kill the patient.

The standard dose is 30mg or 60mg.

This was careless. I caught it immediately. I know I'm not special. I'm certain 99.999% of pharmacists would catch it. But then you have a story like this MPR article. And the question prevalent in my mind is this: Why is the prescriber only 10% responsible for writing a "safe" prescription? Are doctors allowed to write any damn thing they want and it all (or 90% anyway) falls on the pharmacy to catch the errors? 

That's ridiculous! 

If you're a doctor, PA, nurse, or prescriber of medication, please, please, PLEASE slow down. Don't think you can write anything you want and let the pharmacy figure it out. If your handwriting is sloppy, clean it up or get someone else to write it for you. Do you want to live with yourself knowing you killed a patient with your sloppiness? 

Can you live with yourself even if you're only "10%" responsible? 

Think about it.