When you're a teenager...

1983 seems like ancient history...

Sunday, Funny Sunday

The Benefit of the Doubt

There was an additional note attached to this prescription saying to call the office if there were any questions. So I had to call.

I only had one question. Did anyone in the physician's office see any paperwork or case number or call the police department to verify what the patient was claiming... since he filled a prescription for Oxycodone 30mg #300 just a week before?

No. No one did any kind of investigation. They simply took the patient's word and are giving him "the benefit of the doubt."

"Benefit of the Doubt" seems to be a common thing with physicians and Oxycodone scripts, at least from my perspective. 

"I left it on the bus."

"It was stolen out of my car." 

"I had a party and someone stole it out of my medicine cabinet."

"I left it in my hotel room and the maid stole it."

"They fell down the sink."

"The pharmacist shorted me."

"We had a flood and they got all wet."

"We moved and I packed them but I can't remember which box I put them in."

"I'm going on vacation. I will run out."

I could go on for pages and pages about every excuse I've heard at the pharmacy. And yes, we do give the patient the benefit of the doubt... but when the same patient does this over and over and over with a different excuse every time, it gets old. 

Why don't physicians see it too?

Apply Nightly Food

Yes, we received this e-Script today with the following SIG:

"1 tablet twice a day for 2 weeks with a full glass of water apply nightly food."

Doesn't it seem reasonable that if you're going to use the e-Script software you should KNOW how to use the e-Script software?

The Fire Dance of Pharmacy

If you've been to the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii, you probably saw the "night show" with amazing dance routines done by students at the university there. If you haven't, be sure to go on your next visit to Hawaii.

Part of this show is the "fire dance" where various performers toss around sticks set ablaze with this dangerous chemical reaction.

These students earn money to pay for their tuition by working at the Polynesian Cultural Center. What you may not know is that during the time these fire dancers are on stage tossing around fire sticks, they're actually paid a wage much higher than the hourly rate because of the danger and risk of fire dancing.

So I have an idea. It seems reasonable.

If we as pharmacists are constantly going to be subjected to the taking the risk of working in a pharmacy without the necessary technician hours to create a safe environment, then we should be paid more. I think a good place to start, TO START, is by being paid the hourly wages of the technician hours we're allocated but not getting.

If your pharmacy is slated to get 68 tech hours a week and you're only getting 56, then the other 12 hours' wages should be paid to the pharmacists that take the risk from not having enough technician help.

A modest proposal? No, I'm actually serious. The stress of not having enough help and the inherent danger isn't really much different than playing with fire.

But that's a Good Thing...

Our RPM came by the other day. These visits are getting more and more annoying because they just take up precious time we could be using to do actual work. 

"I'm just making a quick visit to see how y'all are doing. What can I do to help?”

Now she doesn't mean what can she do to help right there right now at the pharmacy. Oh no. We're up to our eyeballs in scripts and people waiting and an extra person would really help in the pharmacy. No. She's talking about helping as a "supportive role" of management.

I asked if me telling her what we need would really matter, and yes there was implicit sarcasm. She said yes. I told her that we’re supposed to be getting eight more tech hours than we currently have and that it would be especially useful to have more help on Monday with an extra technician.

She said nine stores in her region have additional tech needs. 

Then came the spin...

“But that’s a good thing...” and then she tried to give some song and dance about it... blah blah blah ... I tuned her out. It’s just more nonsense. 

After she left the lead tech, hearing it all, turned to me and said, "The check is in the mail."

What it amounts to is that we're expected, day after day, to just deal with the pressure of doing more and more work with less help... risking the safety of patients while increasing immunizations, MTMs, and every other metric.

But that's a good thing...

Vital Information Needed

Ring, ring, ring a ding...

"Goofmart Pharmacy, home of the flu shot coupon worth 10% off your grocery purchase, how may I help you today?"

“I would like to call in a prescription.”

"What’s the patient name?"

“Yes, it’s for a patient. I am a doctor.”

This begs so many questions, but I'm not in the mood, so I let it go.

"Good. What’s the patient’s name?"

“It’s for a Zithromax Z Pack. Take as directed. “

"Ok. What is the patient name?"

“My name is Dr. Radiologist. My office number is blah blah blah and my phone number is blah. My NPI is yadda yadda. Are we good?”

"Yes. After you tell me THE PATIENT NAME AND 
BIRTHDATE."

“Why are you angry? Got the flu?” *laughs nervously. 

"You don’t do this very often, do you?"

“What do you mean?”

"Call in prescriptions. We need the NAME and birthdate of the patient to identify the patient and print a label with their name on it."

“Oh.”