Mar
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Blogroll, Blogs I like, Education, Laws, Lazy People, Me being a dick, Work Sucks
This is going to evolve into the FAQ section of TheAngriestPharmacist.com — I would like to make this a “page” where a permanent link is across the top row next to THE STORE, THE HITS, THE LAW, and ASK TAestP! Unfortunately, there is not enough space on this theme, and I don’t know how to modify CSS themes well enough to create a second row of links or decrease the size of that SEARCH bar. If you know how to and are willing to help, let me know via the ASK link.
If you were sent here via a link to a response email, please don’t take it as me being a dick. It’s just that I get so many emails asking the same question over and over again, it’d be stupid for me to not do this.
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Who are you? Where do you live? Are you Married? What kind of dog do you own?
I’m a 20 or 30-something year old pharmacist residing in Everytown, USA (also known as Silvertown). I am married, and she absolutely hates TheAngriestPharmacist. I own a Great Dane. He’s huge. I will, however, be buying an American (or English) Bulldog some day down the road.
Should I go to pharmacy school? Did you like pharmacy school? Would you go to pharmacy school again? Tell me about pharmacy school. What are the requirements to pharmacy school? Can I get into pharmacy school with a XX ACT and a XXXX SAT? Do you like my pharmacy school entrance essay? How much money do you make? How do I prepare for the PCAT?
This question has been explained at GREAT length. You can find this information here. I’ve answered every facet of this question and expanded on it. If you email me a question related to this, it damn well better say, “I’ve read everything about the subject on your site, and I didn’t find the answer.” If not, you are going to get the same copy/paste response everyone else gets. Awww…
My pharmacy/pharmacist/technician did the following to me ___ . What should I do? I’m really angry. I think they are lying to me!
I am intrigued by this situation. People have issues with their real pharmacist, and they decide to email me for the answer. I’m both flattered and frustrated. In most instances, I cannot help. I can’t help because I don’t know your state’s law, and 100% of the time, I do not get the complete story.
Just like your real pharmacist, I have an amazingly good bullshit detector. Mine even works over email. People expect me to believe wild claims like, “The pharmacist refused to fill my prescription for NO REASON!” or “They made me wait for over an hour and many other people came in and left before me. They skipped them over me cause I’m [insert ethnicity or group].” Even if this were true, I cannot help.
Here’s what I would do: Call the pharmacy. First and foremost, DO NOT BE A DICK. Ask to politely speak to the pharmacist that filled your prescription or the pharmacist on duty. [Asking to speak to the manager usually puts them on the defensive - you just need a pharmacist]. Ask that pharmacist to explain to you what happened because you don’t understand. Ask questions to ensure that you fully understand the situation. Thank the pharmacist for his time.
If you aren’t happy with his answers, and you weren’t an asshole to him/her, you can then ask for the PHARMACY manager [the STORE manager cannot help]. This then escalates to the PHARMACY DISTRICT MANAGER.
Do not escalate in hopes that you are going to get free drugs or gift cards. You are just going to get yourself blacklisted. It’s also pointless — and one of the reasons healthcare/drug costs are so fucking high.
Finally, in most of these situations, the person tells me they do not trust a pharmacy, pharmacist, or technician. They may give a reason. It is usually stupid. Regardless, if you do not trust your pharmacy, pharmacist, or technician, you need to find a new fucking pharmacy. Is that a hard concept to understand? Why do I have to explain this to people? If you are unhappy with the food at a restaurant, do you keep going week after week and just bitch about it to TheRagingServer? No, you go somewhere else when you eat out. Find a new pharmacy.
I have the following medical ailment ___. What’s good for that? How do I treat that? My doctor says this ___, but I don’t believe him.
I am not a doctor. I do not diagnose. While I am allowed to make certain recommendations of therapy based on what I know of guidelines and evidenced based medicine, I can’t write prescriptions. I can’t examine you [especially over the internet].
As evidence, here is my disclaimer that is attached to my emails, “While I am a licensed pharmacist in my state of residence, I am not YOUR pharmacist or your physician. I do not know you or your medical history. I only know the information that YOU have provided. I am providing this advice/guidance free of charge and for nothing more than entertainment purposes. If you decide to proceed or utilize the information provided, you should first contact your pharmacist or primary care physician. While I will not lie or purposely mislead you, I cannot guarantee the information provided is correct as it has not been verified in any medical literature or textbook unless specified and cited. Of course, if you are experiencing a medical emergency, rather than email you should call for emergency services immediately.”
Finally, in most of these situations, the person tells me they do not trust their doctor. They may give a reason. It is usually stupid. Regardless, if you do not trust your doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician’s assistant you need to find a new fucking primary care group. Is that a hard concept to understand? Why do I have to explain this to people? If you are unhappy with the food at a restaurant, do you keep going week after week and just bitch about it to TheRagingServer? No, you go somewhere else when you eat out. Find a new doctor.
What do you think of this link ______?
I think it’s great that people respect me to the point that they value my opinion and enjoy my responses. I understand that people merely want to send me a link, get me all riled up and pissed off, and inspire me to post an awesome rant on the website — I get it.
However, from this point forward, if you send me a link to analyze and raise hell about, I would like you to include your OWN analysis/thoughts. Send me your thoughts — I do care. I won’t rip you apart if you’re wrong or off-base (unless you have some sort of weird slant or agenda, and it’s uber-evident).
If you send me a link without any thoughts or ideas, I’m going to merely direct you to this very spot each time and ask you to resend with some analysis.
Exception: If you use StumbleUpon to send me links, you can’t include much text. This is, however, accepted (and the preferred method in most cases). If you are able to add text, consider sending your thoughts. My STUMBLEUPON Profile — add me as a friend to send me links and stuff via this method.
What do you know about [Insert Drug]?
There are all kinds of things wrong with this question. If you send me this question, it’s unlikely you will EVER get a response. There is TONS of information available about every drug: class, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics (Administration, disolution, metabolism, and excretion), potential interactions, doses (including pediatric, renal, and hepatic insufficiency doses), my own personal anecdotal evidence, the research available to me via PubMed, et cetera, et cetera.
All this information and more at my disposal, and you ask me what I know as a generality? If there is something you wish to know (that you cannot find via the normal avenues like GOOGLE), I would be more than happy to help. But, I REQUIRE SPECIFICS. Exactly WHAT do you want to know? More importantly, WHY do you want to know this? I answer questions to help people achieve maximum benefit from their drug therapy — this is best achieved when they have all the information they require at their disposal. However, when people merely want this information to “double check” what another pharmacist (see above question about TRUSTING YOUR PHARMACIST) has told them or prove someone else wrong (yes, I have been used to win a bar bet before and it pissed me the hell off), because it wastes my time and benefits no one.
PS – It is OK to ask questions of me for shear enrichment — because you want to learn — just say so. Pharmacy students — you guys might not get as much leeway with this. I’m not gonna do your homework…:-)
Why does/doesn’t the law say this?
I don’t write the law for the United States of America, your state of residence, or even MY state of residence. I know, it’s unfortunate. I have some good ideas concerning pharmacy law, and I should be contacted about ALL pharmacy legislation — I just don’t have that power or clout yet. While I can give you my opinion about existing law (should you tell me what the law SPECIFICALLY is in your state of residence), I can’t help you more than that.
Look up who represents you in CONGRESS. Look up who represents you in your STATE CONGRESS. Write them letters with your ideas and concerns.
I know it’s a thrill when I agree with you (as it should be), I just cannot help you here.
Why are you such a dick head both in real life and on your website?
Because I can be. I sling the pills to pay the bills. Deal with it, or go read CNN.
Last Update: March 21, 2009
This post seems quite reasonable. However, I think the whole point of having access to a twisted genius like yourself is, somtimes it is really, really helpful to get your input on an issue, especially something controversial that lots of us may be having trouble with. Sorry, I must present an example. Our pharmacists went on a crusade to educate physicians about levalbuterol. Notes were put in charts stating that the drug is recommended Q6 and it will not do any good to give it q2 or 3 . Polite ignoring lollowed then came ED doses of 10-13 1.25 doses in hour long treatments. Someone somewhere MUST be getting miracle results from this but I do not see much difference from one or two doses as opposed to ten in a row. Also, I have called several Pharmacists about whether it is okay to give Spiriva and Atrovent both-pretty much all of them give me a different answer-one gave me a solemn scholarly monologue about too much anticholinergic effect, one laughed and said it won’t hurt but it won’t help another said wearily, “We just go ahead and do it after we advise it is not recommended”. What say you about this?
HAHAHA, it won’t hurt but it won’t help — just go ahead and do it but advise that it is not recommended.”
For future info, there’s this COOL site called PUBMED where you can search almost every piece of primary literature ever (except the ones that drug companies withheld due to the results not going their way.
Just go to MESH in the left frame, put in what drugs or diseases you want to search for then click SEARCH pubmed. You’ll find real answers there — and not just anecdotal evidence from pharmacists. Of course, there’s more to it than this simple explanation, but most people can figure it out. More importantly, for a question like this, you need primary literature — especially if you are going to try and convince physicians of something. Otherwise, it’s just a pharmacist saying, “Don’t do that because I said.” — It’s much better to say, “Don’t do that because the data says.”
LOL I pictured you as an older then 30ish man. Sorry TAestP I pic’d you as about 40 or 50. LOL You sound like you’ve been in pharmacy for many years.
Well, I have worked in a pharmacy for 10+ years even though I am considered “young” for a pharmacist.
Enjoy your blog, and learn so much about the USA health system. I hope we in New Zealand stay the way we are. Big department stores still don’t have ‘chemists’ or ‘pharmacists’ – they are still independently owned stores. There is one pharmacist in a supermarket nearby, but it’s still privately owned and not owned by the supermarket chain, just happens to be a pharmacist store after the check out operators at the supermarket.
But I love your humour and your sarcastic wit, and the way you do not suffer fools gladly – I’m the same and so I get lots of laughs, yet share your frustrations.
Cheers
Robyn
Glad you enjoy it! If you have info or rants you’d like to share, send them to me through the ASK TAestP link…
Google Scholar will give you full text on most things after you find it on PubMed (where it’s rare to get full text without going through a school or university).
You’re a dickhead. I am too, but I treat everyone fairly and courteously. I bet you’re really a pussycat… tell me you’ve never paid for a kid’s antibiotic when mom just couldn’t afford it. Go ahead…. And btw, I know it takes a lot of effort to put out this blog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart… you keep me off the roof with a deer rifle.
Nope…I will just write off the copayment and allow my COMPANY to eat it…but I won’t open my wallet. That’s like selling Sudafed — once you sell one, everyone wants one cause they call all their buddies.
I visited google scholar and had little luck in getting full text, they just shot me to the website that invited me to pay for the article…hmmm, maybe I did something wrong, but since the Chick never is, its doubtful :-)
and TAestP, you may be a dickhead online, but if you own dogs, you cannot possibly be a real dickhead. Cat owners on the other hand……
I half-own a cat. She hates the Dane and actually beats up on it! Now, he’s a pussycat of a dog!
I guess it depends on the article, the length of time (older is more likely to be free of course — <90 days is impossible), and which journal it was published in. Some journals share all, some are very stingy.
Ok TAestP thanks for answering my question LOL DM is the way I will go. Blacklisted? What’s the worse they can do? Skip over you, they can’t BL you just because you have a problem with some bitch tech and you try to deal with the pharmacist superviser? I have been freaken nice too long… (from my mood I just got back from that pharmacy) Anyways I will not go into it, thanks for your answer I will try that route instead of screaming to anyone who will listen. I also think people ask you these questions. because you may be a kinda hero to people
My stupid patient story occurred almost 30 years ago, while I worked as a jail medic as I took my required courses that I didn’t already have for the Physician Assistant program at George Washington. One night during sick call, an inmate came up complaining of hemorrhoids. I gave him a suppository, and went to the next dayroom.
The following night, the same inmate came up, this time complaining of how painful the suppository was to use. I told him that it shouldn’t be painful but it helps to moisten the suppository to lubricate it after you take it from the aluminum foil. His exact reply was “You take it out of the foil?” I had to delay competing sick call until I could get myself to stop laughing.
Speaking of The Raging Server I just had to drop by and tell you that I hath returned in force! I was looking through my stats and you’re to this day one of my number one referrers dude!
BTW, for those of you who don’t bitch to The RagingServer (aka, me) when you have an issue with a restaurant – I advocate it! I’ve branched out a bit!
Hey boss, real quick – I tried to go to your “contact/ask TaestP” page about the advertising and such, but it’s getting a 404 not found error. Is there just a new page you gave a link to in another post?
Oh and coincidentally, as long as your email hasn’t changed since you last commented on my site, I sent you a message a few minutes ago in your mail!
ASK TAESTP was removed because I was receiving, literally, 10 to 15 questions each day about this post, that comment or this drug and that disease state. I wanted to help people with my knowledge, but I was doing myself a disservice by spending hours answering questions pro-bono
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