Never ask an old bittie her birthday!

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Courtesy, Education, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR, Lazy People, Management, Me being a dick, Me hating others, PHARMACY SECRETS!, Patient Education, Rude, Stupid People, Technicians, True Story, Work Sucks

There was a comment made to my last post, SATURDAY’S SUCK! where a guy swore he called and asked me about our having a product. He swore he talked to the male pharmacist. I was the only male working in the store, and we did not talk. My response to the comment turned into a store and then a rant. So, as to not detract from the original post, I’ve taken this comment and my story/response their own post. Hope it doesn’t suck!

We get this all the time…we are a tiny ass pharmacy, i kid you not…we have 2 pharamcists and 2 techs…all week long, same peeps. So when someone says they ’spoke to someone’ it’s very easy to call them out as a liar.

As for your “loud and clear” guy…i totally feel you. We had something very similar happen to us the other day. We just get back from lunch and are opening up when a woman approaches the consultation window where I am at a computer trying to figure out the faxes that came in over lunch. She stares, I greet her cordially and ask her if there’s something I can help her with. She stares and then rolls her eyes and says “No, I just thought i’d come up here and look at you” and then she stares. I blink back at her and glance down at the empty drop off window and empty register and then ask her if she has a specific question about medications (that would require a pharmacist) or if she has a question that I can help her with. She says “Medicines..i’ll talk to him” and points at our pharmacist. He had a student that day so when he had started her on a small task, he went down to offer the woman her consultation. She proceeds to tell him that she needs to know if she has a refill on “some med on her profile” he asks her what she would like him to do specifically, because it’s something that a tech can handle and now she’s interrupted him…she rolls her eyes and tells him to “look it up on the damn computer”

He brings her down to the drop off window and the other tech and I back up about 10 feet. He asks her for her birthday. You know as well as I do that it is the easiest way to look up a patient. She stares at him for a moment and then gives him a month and day. My pharmacist waits for a beat..then asks for a year to which she scoffs and says “every year” my pharmacist waits…and at this point the phone is ringing, there is one on hold, i’m on the 3rd line and the other tech is on the register. So he politely asks for the year once more and the woman flips. Starts yelling at him that he is inconsiderate and can’t take a joke and refuses to help her. My pharmacist calmly tells her “Ma’m, i’m trying to help you, but i don’t exactly know how to respond to you right now, you’re not being very easy to help” so she spouts off that she was just joking and that he shouldn’t need any more information then the month/day of her birthday. So he snarks back “how about your name?” at this point, we back up about 10 more feet.

She finally relented to let him have her name at least and when i was checking her out at the register, it was with a final comment that she should buy us a sign that says “Do Not Joke with Pharmacist…for he has no sense of humor” and then proceeds to tell the other tech that we should spend our breaks and lunchtime out on the floor showing poor people like her where the vitamins are instead of giving them a specific aisle number and shelf.

Just goes to show that apparently no matter what you say or what you do, some people are just that stupid. I’m totally done with everyone looking at me blankly as I remind them that January means reset deductibles and shifted formularies. It’s completely my fault that their insurance probably sent out 10 notifications that they didn’t read

I have an old bitch like this too. All of the FT employees (pharmacist and techs) know who she is on sight. She is the meanest, grumpiest, rudest bitch ever born. We all know that you do not ask her birthday…However, our technicians are BEATEN if they do not acquire the birthday and write it on each prescription as well as verify the birthday upon checkout to verify the correct patient is picking up the medicine. This, for some reason, causes Ms. Bitch considerable problem.

She tries to play the “you should NEVER ask a woman her birthday”, but the problem is, she takes it to a whole new level — a weird, obscene, asinine level of fucked-up-ed-ness. Her reaction and response to the question, “what is your birthday?” is comparable to the response you would receive from other women when asking, “I bet you’ve had miles of dick in you…amiright?” or men when asked, “What were you and your wife doing last night when I was nailing your daughter on your living room couch?” If you get the simile, haha….if not — let’s just say her response/reaction is over the top negative. She is just plain out ugly (in BOTH ways…)

Last time she came in, I approached the counter and you bet your ass I asked her birthday. She gave me the usual, expected attitude — the response I was trying to elicit. I pointed to the sign that every pharmacy has that says, “We verify identity with photo identification for all controlled medications.” I told her that she could either tell me her birthday or show me her driver’s license. She snatched the pen out of my hand and wrote it on the prescription herself — only the month and day mind you — and threw both down on the counter in utter disgust. The pharmacy is completely empty at this point so the big urge for secrecy and confidentiality is unfounded — and by empty I mean REALLY empty…not even OTC shoppers.

She got about 10 feet away and I hollered to her, “I must have the year as well.” –

“You know very well that you do NOT need the year. No one else ever gives me any trouble. They never ask my birthday. Everyone back here knows me — they ALL know me. Ask them. ASK DAVE!”
[If you know me through this blog, you know that referencing DAVE, that old prick that managed the pharmacy before me for 20 years and still works a day or two per week prn is one sure fire way to get on my bad side and ENSURE your script won't be filled...I don't give A FLIPPING FUCK what David used to do for you (most of the time illegally -- based on the letter of the law and MODERN pharmacist code of ethics). I am not him nor do I strive to be him.]

“Dave’s not here. Dave’s not the boss. I’m the boss right now. The rules of this store, and the rules that I am going to follow…the very rules I expect these girls to follow when they take your prescription…is that you MUST give us your complete date of birth upon dropoff.”

DID I MENTION SHE ALWAYS WEARS A MOO-MOO? (and usually has curlers in her hair — or at least a weird showercap/hairnet) I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING. I’M SUPER CEREAL HERE!

“This is ridiculous. I’m calling your superior.”
“Well, then…here’s his business card. I’m sure that I will get in plenty of trouble for following company policy. They fire people all the time for following the rules that ensure patient safety. Why do you take such offense to someone asking your birthday? I mean, we are a part of the healthcare team here and you treat us all like dirt. Do you act so resentful at your doctor’s office when they ask your birthday? I’ve never seen someone yell at their granddaughter before — back when she worked here 5 or 6 years ago — for verifying her grandmother’s birthday (even though she knew it). Did you ever try to eat your young?”
“They may not fire you for following protocol as you call it…” I interjected like a smartass with, “Actually, I called it policy…”
“WHAT – EVER! You have no right. You have no need. You have no access. That is private information that you do not need.”
“Ma’am, you are gravely mistaken. I have a definite need for your birthday — considering some medicines may be contraindicated in certain age groups. That’s for your safety and to ensure the right person is selected in the computer and the right dose is dispensed! In fact, pharmacists have a need and a right to access your complete medical history…and you’re raising cain over your birthday.” [I've revealed TONS of information about readers just by them sending me their email address and name -- I've sent them back their name, address, phone number, map to their house, and a PICTURE of the front of their house in certain cases. You do NOT have privacy in 2010...]

“That’s it…I’ve had it with you…give me the prescription back.” [I, of course, give it right back to her] “I’ve been coming here for 20 years, and David never treated me with such disrespect. I’ll never be back here, and I *will* be calling your employer. May God bless you and let you live a long, but hopefully miserable, life.”

“Aww you’re so nice. May your children place you in the cheapest, roach-ridden nursing home available for the rest of your life.”

She, like all patients continued to come to the pharmacy. She made no effort to change or avoid me. This ordeal was a few months ago, but she suddenly disappeared. I always watch the obituaries, and I was hopeful she’d turn up. But, alas, I discovered she HAD been placed in a home…and YES, it is the most roach-ridden place available in the nearby area!

Who says dreams don’t come true?

Good Rant on Self-Checkouts

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as --Not Pharmacy--, Blogs I like, Courtesy, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR, Me being a dick, Work Sucks

This was all thought up and written by Kurtis – I loved it and decided to share it with the world:

I know it’s not pharmacy related, but today I waited in line for 10 whole minutes waiting for not 1, not 2, nor 3, but 4 idiots to figure out how to use the self-checkout registers at a grocery store that I work in as a pharmacy tech (soon to be intern). The horrible part is these same idiots come to the pharmacy bothering me about things they know even less about, but are convinced that they are experts on. Thus, I present a new set of rules that I think should take effect immediately to prevent my lunch break from being ruined ever again:

New U-Scan Limitations to be Enacted Immediately:

1.) 15 items or less only. I do not know how many times I’ve seen someone bring a whole cartful of groceries through the U-Scan. It just ticks everybody off; just because there is no line at the U-Scan when you get there does not mean you can check yourself out any faster than if you waited in line and had somebody who knows what they are doing do it for you. Also, when you are done, you’ve created an angry mob in line behind you.

2.) Your IQ must be greater than 80. I think this is pretty generous considering this is one standard deviation lower than the median IQ. The U-Scan machine is a simple device that consists of a holding area for your unpurchased groceries (notice how small it is? seems to indicate a hand basket or less…see rule #1), a laser that scans barcodes, a touch screen that displays all of your options as you check out, an area to pay cash or credit, and a holding areas for your scanned groceries. The trickiest part of all of this is that the second holding area is a scale; it senses changes in weight to let the machine know that what you scan is what you are placing in the bags; this prevents theft. You cannot lean on, place a purse on, or have your snot-nosed kids touch or play with this scale or the whole process must be stopped and continued by a clerk. Do not get angry at the employee who runs the U-Scan if you cannot figure out how to work the darn machine. And remember, when the machine says “Waiting for cashier,” it doesn’t mean its waiting on the employee, its waiting on YOU! Odds are if you break rule #1, you are also breaking rule #2.

3.) You must be less than 65 years old. You grew up with local clerks who ran cashiers. They probably wore aprons and sweeped porches with brooms. Go take a nostalgic trip down memory lane by telling this modern 16 year old kid all about the local shop in your town, and how everyone met there every weekend for rootbeer floats or to find out if it was going to rain because Clem’s leg was swelling up, or to ask a young lady’s father if you could court her. Tell him how much a peppermint stick used to cost in 1879, tell him how you used to stare at the expensive chocolate bars, complain about anything and everything that has changed. Sure, after 10 minutes of this story the cashier may begin to fidget and the other customers may begin to get angry, but hey, you’ve saved us all a train wreck because you didn’t use the U-SCAN! Even if you obey rules #1 and #2, you still will not be efficient at using this complicated technological machinery. Cashiers; to screen for ages, simply ask an elderly looking person for their Medicare card. Their eyes will light up as they think to themselves, “Medicare pays for food!?” as they proudly show you their “Red, white, and blue” card. Kindly inform them that they are over the age limit and direct them to the nearest open register. Tell them it’s a special service for the elderly of the neighborhood, they’ll eat that up.

Stupid Patient Questions

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as --Not Pharmacy--, Blogs I like, Education, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR, Just a question, Laws, Lazy People, Me being a dick, Money, Patient Education, Rude, Stupid People, True Story, Update, Work Sucks

This post will be dedicated to stupid patient questions.

I will update it as more are submitted via comments and email. I would prefer to cite, link, and date them if able — so, please include that information if available.

I’d like to limit these to those that HAPPENED TO YOU! Not a, “my friend told me he had the suppository unwrap thing happen.”

-=+=-

A father asks, with a very serious/concerned look, “Can my daughter eat Hot Cheetos with her Claritin prescription?” ~WAGBoy (March 09)

“My mother is having a reaction to her Levaquin. I see on the warnings that she should not take this with calcium. Do you think I should give her some calcium to counteract the effects of the Levaquin?” ~Erin ( March 09)

“My eye has been really irritated and itchy lately. How many Benadryls should I put in it to make it better?” ~Mateo (March 09)

“Can I use the wart freeze off thing on my genital warts?” ~Jeremy (March 09)

“Do you have anything over the counter for women like Viagra for men?” ~MARY (March 09)

Phone Call: “Can you tell me how much this prescription will cost me?”  –  “Sure, what’s it for?” — “I don’t know! I can’t read the thing!” ~deb (March 09)

“What kind of chicken soup is best for a cold?” ~jane (March 09)

“Do you have any oxycodone?” — “We are only dispensing oxycodone to our established patients due to the shortage.” — “Well my son fills his prescriptions there.” ~MiniRPh (March 09)

“Are the Dilaudid 8mgs, stronger than the Dilaudid 4mgs? Is that how that works?” –  “Yes, that is how that works.” –  “Do you have any of those?” — “…No.” ~AngryTech (March 09)

Staring straight at a pharmacy technician in the consultation window: “Do you have a pharmacy here?” ~Stephanie (March 09)

A Medicaid mom with approximately 23 kids: “Yeah, um, can’t I just give her one dose (of Amoxicillin) now and come back and pay for it later?”  ~Techtastic (March 09)

“Can you get my Percs done faster? I’m late to my NA meeting.” ~Techtastic (March 09)

Over the phone: “What’s the pharmacy phone number?” ~Techtastic (March 09)

“This aspirin says 81mg. My doctor told me to take only 80mg. Am I gonna overdose if I take this?” ~Techtastic (March 09)

“Can I drink milk and soda together?” ~AmyB (Dec 08)

Patient asking about antibiotic filled at another pharmacy: “Is this going to interact with Crack?” ~MB (Dec 08)

“I mistook my toothpaste for Monistat. How do I get rid of the burning sensation?” ~CD (Sept 08)

“Do you have an Laudanum back there?” — “Not a chance.” ~Jeremy (Oct 07)

“Do you have any Non-Aspirin Aspirin?” ~TAestP  (Feb 07)
“Do you have any BENZENE I could buy?” ~TAestP (Feb 07)

Educating on elderly lady on Metronidazole: “Do you drink alcohol?” — “No! And I don’t have sex either!”  ~Angel (Jan 06)

From an already stoned 18-year old boy: “Which of these cough medicines gets you goofy?” ~DisasterChick (2005)

YOUR STUPID QUESTION HERE!

Response to my Obama letter

Posted by The *Angriest* Pharmacist as Drug Companies, Education, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR, Laws, Lil Laura, Technicians

Below is a response to the popular OBAMA DREAM LETTER that had some very intriguing thoughts and points I wanted to share.

Hey, Im messaging you directly cos this will be far too long for a reply to the blog, and Im prone to rambling.

Number one, please please send your letter to Obama. Its a brilliant and well thought out letter, and worst case, it gets ignored, you lose nothing. But you never know, stranger things happen than someone somewhere up high reading it and at least considering things. It may well get directed on to someone and cause pause for thought. I know the odds are small but hey..

I sent the LINK to the letter through their contact form. Anyone else is welcome to print it (via the print icon) and send it in — that way the comments are included as well.

I wondered if you realised how close some of your aims are to the UK pharmacy set up (which by the way is no means perfect, we certainly have our own problems), in which some of your ideas have been tried and tested and proved to work.

Direct-to-patient advertising… well currently that is illegal in the UK, although the drug companies do try other clever schemes to get round the law… “medical condition information” booklets – e.g. Pfizer might write a booklet to ‘educate’ people about ED – they cant directly mention Viagra but do regularly repeat the phrase “ask your doctor about medicines which could help you”. At least in this scenario, the doctor may write for any ED drug, so Pfizer may not necessarily benefit… But when you get to more unusual or specific conditions where your drug may be the only one in its class.. well it starts to look a whole lot more like direct advertising to me. Oh and also they fund patient groups for specific diseases, which comes in oh so handy for lobbying when the government assesses X,Y,Z new fancy but not-clinically-effective drug and decides that it will not go onto the NHS formulary. Then powerful, well-funded patient group is all over the press crying boo hoo, with lots of money and support to keep heckling until government reverses decision… However things may get still worse here, as the European pharmacy regulatory body (EMEA) wants to ’standardise’ things across Europe by allowing drug manufacturers to direct-to-patient advertise in all European companies.. Our regulator is fighting that but we will see.

As I said when I discussed the self regulation our big pharmaceutical companies recently employed, they will find a way around it. It’s pathetic the games they play to bilk a widow out of a few bucks for a name brand as opposed to a  cheaper generic with identical efficacy.

Our version of the FDA, the MHRA, similarly seems suicidally obsessed right now, and again, there is no actions taken over me-toos.. infact a few recent cases have left me totally incensed but I wont even start on that now.

This shit is pathetic. They want to make the news and let everyone know they are doing something. “LOOK AT US LOOK AT US! WE ARE DOIN’ STUFF!” Suicide makes the papers.

Pseudoephedrine – currently over the counter in the UK, but the regulator has been considering making it prescription only, which pharmacies are up in arms about and many campaigns are running to allow pharmacies to keep it. Only very small packs are allowed to be sold and pharmacies have stepped up vigilance and education for staff.. outcome remains to be seen.

We have some (not a lot but its growing) Independent Pharmacist Prescribers. http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/worldofpharmacy/currentdevelopmentsinpharmacy/pharmacistprescribing/index.html
I will include the link there as the stuff there can explain far clearer than I can what they can/cant do.

Some parts of the UK are now running a Minor Ailments Scheme, mainly Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, although its slowly creeping into England. In these, much as in your dream, the Pharmacy can provide treatments for minor conditions, without the patient visiting a doctor. For patients that normally get prescription meds free, medicines through this are also free. Its been recognised to reduce GP (family doctor) waiting times and inappropriate A&E (ER) visits. http://www.torfaen.gov.uk/HealthAndSocialCare/PharmaciesInTorfaen/PharmacyFirstMinorAilmentsScheme/Home.aspx Thats an example from Wales of what sort of conditions they can help with. There have been some studies carried out, as it is government funded, so I’m sure a further search would find some nice statistics of how much money the scheme saves.

Finally, as I think Ive written quite enough here, Pharmacy Techs.

For many years there has been strong training for Technicians, the qualifications have varied over the years but virtually every UK tech, even the eldest, has some form of formal qualification. Nowadays it takes 2 years to qualify, and there are 2 qualifications that have to be gained in that time, an NVQ (on-the-job vocational training) and a BTEC (underpinning theory, learned at college one day a week). Only at the end of this would one call oneself a technician. Although this has not been bound in law, it is very rare to hear of anywhere (hospital or retail) that would employ a sub-educated tech. I believe this is because in the UK they are allowed to do much more, but currently the pharmacist still remains liable for any errors that take place, even if by the tech, so it makes sense to employ only suitably qualified ones.

However law has just been passed that means that shortly techs will have to be registered, just as pharmacists, doctors and nurses etc are. The title Pharmacy Technician will be restricted to those registered and protected by law. Currently registration is voluntary, but compulsory registration will begin in the next year to 18 months. Some qualifications will be grandparented, and some techs will need to study additional modules to be able to practice. Techs coming from abroad will need to prove that their qualifications are equivalent or do a conversion course before being allowed to practice. Technicians once registered take on much more liability for their work, and are encouraged to hold their own indemnity insurance.

Ok, so I’m sure that’s enough rambling, there’s a million more things I could tell you about (including what some of our problems are), so if you have any interest, get in touch .

Howard