15 Minutes is Sufficient

This was shared with me recently on Twitter. It reads as follows:

"Please, I do not like waiting 30-40 minutes for service when 15 minutes is sufficient. Thank you, customer."

Cures and Side Effects

The Milk Emergency

I'm checking out a lady at the register. I do a lot more of that now since the new software requires me to check off a box that says I've counseled the patient on a medication they've had since 1986. Upper management has forced us into this behavior as a method to try and pressure us to discuss vaccinations with each and every patient like we have all the time in the world to do that.

I'm patiently waiting for the lady to push her credit card into the machine for the $1.24 purchase. My mind instantly wonders who comes up with these crazy co-pay numbers. Is there like a committee of three or four people at the pharmacy benefit manager that argued the merits of charging $1.24 instead of $1.20? I'm sure all these pennies must add up somewhere and it makes all the difference in world.

Of course the lady can't figure out that the chip end of the credit card goes in first so the machine barks at her. When I prompt her to turn the card around and she does so then it just sits there waiting because she hasn't pushed it in all the way. "Is it done yet?" she quibbles, angry with me. "Push it in a little more," I say, instantly turning our interaction from PG to PG-13.

At that point a lady walked up to the counter, violating all privacy laws everywhere and spit out, "WHERE'S THE MILK?!" I'm already tired from the day, looking for comic relief, and replied, "We don't drink milk in the Tri-County area," at which my patient at the register giggled.

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! I'M IN A HURRY! JUST TELL ME WHERE IT IS!"

So I merely pointed to the back of the store and the words left my mouth before I could stop them. "Milk is in the back of EVERY grocery store in the nation," but it was too late. She had whisked away on her extremely urgent milk emergency. 

The sound of the POS machine (That's point-of-sale, not what you were really thinking) starts barking at my patient to remove her card and of course she's just standing there, apparently not hearing it. I'm certain she is now wondering why this whole thing is taking so long.

I look at the clock to see how much time until my shift is over.

Only eight more hours. I can do this.

Pharmacists Save Lives

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.

Stuffs to Laugh About

Printing Prescriptions from Home?

A lady brings in a script for Tramadol for her dog. I guess Fido was having a bad day. 

The prescription looked photocopied. 

I told her: "I can't fill this. It's photocopied."

"It's NOT photocopied. I printed it. The vet emailed me a PDF file and I printed it at home."

"This is for a controlled substance. Doctors and veterinarians can't just email prescriptions to patients," I tell her. "It needs a written signature unless it is sent through the e-Script system."

"Well Dr. Vet said it was ok."

"Dr. Vet is wrong. It's not ok. I'll have to verify it with their office."

I called the office and told the receptionist that we have a script that was emailed to the patient and printed at home.

“What’s the problem with that?” she asked.

"What's to keep her from printing several of these and trying to get them filled all around town?"

"Oh."

What would be your movie title?