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Friday, May 29, 2009

Slow Day, Part II

Wow

That is the only word I can use to explain what I was feeling when I heard the pharmacist, good old Shayna, say this:

"You are a doctor, aren't you?"

Oh. My. God. I need to know this story. I know the beginning of it, but I need to know the end of it. Here is the beginning:

The fax machine rings, and starts pushing out paper, the usual warning sheet that is a practice in killing trees and destroying the rainforest tells me to not look at the next sheet unless I'm supposed to. Jesus wept. No, I'm sure he (He?) would.

It's for Musgushkatung something-or-another. It sounds racist but it isn't. Musgushkatung is the actual name (well, actually not, but similar, maybe). I take a look at the script and see that while it's for Musgushkatung, I see the quantity ordered is "enough for 3 family members."

You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me. I make the pharmacist call the doctor so that I don't make the person who is probably twice my age feel like an 8-year-old. The pharmacist doesn't do much better than I would've. She did better, she did, good for her. She explained to the doctor that for insurance reasons she had to have 3 different prescriptions (I would've told her that she's a fucking moron of a doctor for thinking that she could prescribe 3 people with 1 prescription). Apparently the doctor asked if she, the doctor, could write the prescriptions for the rest of the family. The doctor should have felt like a 16-year-old, but I have a feeling the doc was a little too dumb to realize we were making fun of her.

The pharmacist's reponse? "Yes, your medical license allows you to prescribe medicine to any patient that you see, you are a doctor, aren't you?"

My response would've been "Are you fucking serious? Are you a doctor or not?!?!"

So the end of the story is this. It's really lack-luster, actually, I would describe it as "lacking luster,":

She prescribed the whole family, after the pharmacist explained to her that even though they were not in the computer system, they could be prescribed medications.

I mean fuck, what in the sand's hell am I getting into here?

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Slow Day, Part I

Craziness at the pharmacy today.

It was a very, very slow day today, I read about 50 pages from my book in my four hour shift, and I made 480 grams of Kay-Med 1% HC (I was working in the pharmacy that's in a children's clinic that just so happens to be owned by the same dude that owns the pharmacy I usually work in), all of this should say something to the average person who works in pharmacy. It was f-u-c-k-i-n-g slow.

However, we did not lack in the crazy people department of the day. The first lady, a patient, was not only ignorant but willfully ignorant, a trait that someone such as myself cannot stand.

She came in with an albuterol inhaler. She wanted a refill for her son, we're going to call her Bitcherson from now on. Alright, no problem. Wait, shit, she got this prescription at a pharmacy called ShittyService Clinic pharmacy. While our pharmacy is located in a ShittyService Clinic, it is not a ShittyService Clinic pharmacy. I explain to her that I'll have to call the ShittyService Clinic pharmacy to get a copy, because we are not affiliated with ShittyService, our owner just leases the property from them. She doesn't understand this and doesn't care, she just says "Fill the prescription."

"Ok, will do," I reply, "it will just take a little longer than usual, that's all."

"You seem inexperienced, I've never been told this at any pharmacy before," retorted Bitcherson.

"Well, since you did not get this prescription from this pharmacy, we're going to have to call the pharmacy you did get this prescription from and get all the information from them so we can fill it here," I tried to explain to her. She didn't get it, she didn't care. Her response? "Just fill it."

Ok, so I call ShittyService Clinic pharmacy (ok, it's not the pharmacy that's shitty, it the clinic, I have the tiniest bit of a grudge against them, but that's a story for later) and lo and behold, my friend picks up the phone.

"ShittyService Pharmacy, this is Max," says Max.

"Max! It's PDS over at PDS Pharmacy, I need a copy, fucker," I exclaim (soft enough on the 'fucker' to not be heard by the patient, the pharmacist, however, bursts out laughing). I give him the number blah blah blah.

"Ok, so you're looking at the inhaler right now?" asks Max. I tell him yes.

"Alright, I'll just give you the dates then, last filled 5-19-09 (alarms start ringing in my head, insurance is not gonna cover this) and original 5-19-08," Max states.

"Wait, 08 or 09?" I ask, cause I've already assumed it was 09, and had written that down, I needed to confirm.

"Oh shit, it's 08, so I guess it's expired," says Max.

"Yeah," I say, "Looks like she's trying to get her money's worth from the PRN refills huh?"

"Uh, I guess so?" questions Max. He's new to the pharmacy industry, he has yet to realize that people are generally trying to take advantage. He will learn, and I'm almost sad that he will. I learned, but I hated people before I started pharmacy. He didn't. Pharmacy will change him.

"Yeah, well nice talking to ya, see ya Saturday," I state (I'm seriously running out of ways to say 'say'). Then I hang up without waiting for him to say his little sign-off. Why? Because I don't care.

We explain to the woman that the script is expired and we can't refill it. Her response? "Yeah, I knew it was."

AHHHHHH Go. Fuck. Your. Self!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You made me call and try to jump threw/through/thru (I don't know which is the correct one at the moment) hoops even though you knew you last filled it on the last eligible date and still tried to fill it in my pharmacy?!??! How fucking stupid do you think I am? Fuck you Bitcherson. Never come back here again.

She left angry because I didn't know what I was talking about, after all, I was 'inexperienced.' What a cunt.

And why was she angry? Because she refused to listen to me or the pharmacist when we both tried to explain to her that we need to call the other pharmacy to get the prescription so we can fill it. We tried to explain to her the whole idea that one cannot bring a bottle or inhaler around and expect every pharmacy to magically fill every prescription. I don't believe that Bitcherson was stupid, I believe that she didn't want to know. That is worse, in my opinion. Willful ignorance is always worse than ignorance.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Day After The Holidays

Holy shit was it busy today or what?

We had 200 new scripts today. I don't know exactly how many total scripts we filled today, but it was a hell of a lot more than 200. The worst part of the day? That I didn't get to fill any of them. Zero. Why? Because our cashier decided to schedule her doctor's appointment for 3 o'clock, and guess who has to run the register when the cashier goes away? You guessed it. The student.

We had patients lined up out the damn door today. You know why? Because every, well not every, but a good 80% of them had just called the pharmacy, assuming from their car 5 minutes before, for their refill. It was absolutely crazy, I actually had one lady say to me when I couldn't find her prescription tell me, in a very snotty tone, "Well, I dropped it off 10 minutes ago, it should be ready." I just looked at her, amazed. By this time, my mind was on cruise control, and could not fathom such idiocy. I replied to her, "As you can see, we are very busy at the moment, but I will find your prescription and make sure the pharmacist knows you're here." To my amazement, when I walked back to let the pharmacist know that Ms. Bitch was here and to bump up her prescription to the "Here" scripts, I noticed that she was just finishing up on the script, and bagging it. I grabbed the prescription and brought it up to the register.

"The pharmacist just finished with it, so here it is!" I said with a smile.

"Well, why wasn't it ready when I first got here?" replied Ms. Bitch.

I just stared at her, shocked. I didn't know what to say. So, I just said, "Well, it does take time to make sure everything is correct with your drugs."

"Well for heaven's sake it's just a refill," continued Ms. Bitch.

"Go fuck yourself," I didn't say. What I did say was "So I'm assuming you have no questions?"

"No, I just want to get out of here."

You and me both, bitch.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Perhaps I've Had One Too Much

Nah... Drinking Grey Goose on the rocks and reading pharmacy blogs is what a normal person does on a, what day is this? Wednesday? ok, Wednesday night (fuck it, Thursday morning).

I finally happened upon JP's Too Adult postings. Holy fuck was I born in the wrong generation or what? Free love, amazing music, slutty bitches that do your bidding, no matter what their relation with any other guy? Um, yes please, I'll take two.

There have been a few girls I've "fallen" for. By "fallen," I mean, I really really really wanted to be with, not because they were extremely attractive, but because I could talk to them for hours upon hours and just not run out of material. Yes, most (read: all) these girls were attractive, but that's really just an added bonus (or requirement, one of the two).

The problem with the PDS is that he can't find a girl to "fall" for that isn't involved with someone else. One has a boyfriend, one is engaged, one has a husband, one is waiting for a military grunt to come back. I believe it's a curse. I don't know if it's that everyone that I like is involved, or that I only like involved people. Fuck me right?

I've tried to talk to the floozy chicks at the bar and found them extremely boring. Most dress up in some scandalous outfit that attracts the primitive part of the male brain, and I'm not about to argue with that part of my brain at the moment, but once they actually open their mouth, I realize that they have no common sense and no sense of humor beyond shitty romantic comedies. This I cannot handle. I'd rather be single my entire life than have to deal with that bullshit. What I need to do is go back in time and hang out with JP and get in on the swinger action. That way I get to be involved with involved chicks, which is apparently what I want. What do you say JP? Wanna invent a time machine?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

New Intern

Today I met our new intern. She's in college to get her tech degree, and just needs one two-week rotation in retail and one in hospital to get that degree. Compare that to the eight (I think it's eight, at least) 5-week different rotations I'm going to have to do. I don't have a problem with this; I'm going to make a hell of a lot more than her and have more responsibilities. What I do have a problem with is this:

She didn't even know what an NDC was. I'll admit, I didn't know about NDCs until I worked in a pharmacy, however, I hadn't taken a single college class at that time either. For those of you who don't know, an NDC is an 11 digit code that is specific to a certain drug, and every drug has one, even OTCs. I don't remember what drug it was, but it was one we had a couple different manufacturers for, because we usually choose to buy the cheaper generic. Anywho, the script came back and she went to go find the drug, looked at them, then turned to Steve and asked, "How do I know which one to choose?"

Steve replied, "Just check the NDC."

"What's an NDC?"

You have got to be kidding me. She went to college for two years to specifically become a pharmacy tech, and they didn't teach her what an NDC is? She's not stupid by any means, so I don't believe that she was taught it and forgot, I believe that she wasn't taught it at all. What the fuck? I guess this is why you have to do rotations before going out into the real world.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

F.I.N.A.L.S. (Fuck I Never Actually Learned [this] Shit)

Have you ever taken a test you weren't prepared for? I just did yesterday. Before this test, I had only failed one test in my entire life. That test was an O. Chem test that required the student to memorize about 100 different reactions and their mechanisms. I just memorized the reactions, and bombed all the mechanisms, but seriously, why do I need to know where all the electrons are moving in a chemical reaction? It's completely useless information to me. In fact, I think knowing all those reactions is useless information too. Not that I'm bitter or anything...

This test was testing how well we know a semester's worth of information of reactions. Just reactions. Here's a compound, what do you do to make it this other compound? 200 points of this crap, with 10 points about protein for some odd reason. I think the professor mentioned something about protein structure in class or something. Good thing I remembered alpha chains and beta sheets from my general biology class my freshman year.

I wasn't prepared. I may or may not have studied. I may or may not have been distracted until 3 in the morning by a girl. I sat in the large auditorium and stared blankly at my test, with the knowledge that I was not going to pass it slowly dawning on me. So I did some bullshitting, but of course you can't bullshit reactions. It's either right or wrong. No exceptions, no partial credit for a partial answer. After an hour of wanting to curl up into a ball and regretting not studying the night before, I turned in my test and went to work, depressed. Just as we were closing up at work, I received 4 texts from 4 different friends saying the test was up. I immediately went to the computer and checked my score. 123 out of 210. That's a solid 58.5%. After maintaining an A all semester, this one test was going to knock me down to a low B. Pissed off at myself, I went back to my apartment to sing my sad song to my roommates. I checked my email as I was talking to them, and had one from my professor. The message stated that the final was curved and would be out of 165, not 210. I'm up to a 74.5% now. Woo hoo! I recalculated my grade and realized I got 425 out of 500 for the semester. That's exactly 85%. 85% is an A. Fuck yes, kept my 4.0 alive baby!

So here's to knowing the bare minimum! Cheers!

Oh, and I got a date with the girl tomorrow night. Things are starting to look good for the PDS this summer.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Double Standard or a Tech Sticking it to The Man? You Decide.

Well it's official. Spring has sprung. It's getting warm finally, and finals are fast approaching. My finals don't seem too difficult this semester, which is always good. Of course, they could bite me on the ass, but let's just hope that doesn't happen.

Anywho, with the seasonal change it's getting a tad bit stuffy in the PharmD Student Pharmacy, and so far the owner has yet to turn the AC on. This can become uncomfortable when I have to wear nice pants and a collared shirt (which usually means I'm wearing an undershirt also) along with my coat. I don't necessarily have to wear the coat, most of the techs and even some of the pharmacists don't wear theirs, but to me it symbolizes that I am not just a cashier or some high school student. I have seen people completely ignore me when I don't wear the coat, but no one ever ignores me when I wear it. The coat stays.

What I would really like is to not have the swamp ass feeling during the hours I work in the pharmacy. No need to further elaborate, it's just an uncomfortable feeling. I asked Steve if I was alright to wear nice khaki shorts to work, and was given an immediate "No" from both him, the other pharmacist, and both the techs that were working. They all answered in unison; I was impressed. Next time I ask a question I'm hoping to get an A Capella answer, that would be cool.

It's really not that big of a deal. I can see how wearing shorts can seem unprofessional in a weird way. However, the next day I worked I noticed that a tech was wearing a skirt, and not just any skirt, a denim skirt. My first instinct is to give her shit for it. "What? I can't wear khaki shorts but you can wear a jean skirt? That's real logical." I did not say this, I would have said it jokingly of course, but she's my favorite tech. I believe the term is "Keystone Tech." My apologies to the creator of that phrase, but it seems widely used and accepted in the blogosphere.

I thought about making a case that I should be able to wear shorts, and I could make a damn good one on why shorts should be allowed. I could make the argument that it's a sexist double standard. We all need to be equals you know. Maybe I should be a lawyer instead... But what if she's not supposed to be wearing this skirt? What if this is her little way of sticking it to "The Man?" I think she deserves to have that, and I sure don't want to take that away from her. So I'm going to keep my mouth shut for now. If anyone else comes in wearing a skirt or shorts, then I'll make myself heard.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Well I Have This Slip...

I experienced a new level of ignorance today, I level I knew existed, but had never had the joy of experiencing.

I got a phone call from patient, who said his dentist had ordered him a prescription, and he was wondering if it was ready. I asked his name and birthday, pulled up his profile, and saw that the last script we had for him was filled in January. I asked him if the dentist was faxing it over today, and he replied "Oh, well I saw him like 2 weeks ago, and he ordered a prescription, but I kinda just forgot about it until now."

"Ok," I replied as I roll my eyes, "are you sure he sent us the prescription? Because I have no record of it."

"Well I know what it's for, can I just tell you and pick it up later today?"

"Uh... No, we need a prescription from the doctor to fill anything for you. Do you have any idea where the prescription is?"

"Well, I have this slip..."

"Is it the prescription?"

"Yes."

"Well if you just bring that on in with you, we can fill it while you wait."

"Well how long will that take?"

"It depends on how busy we are when we get the script."

"So like, 20 minutes?"

"I can't guarantee anything."

"Well can I just tell you what it's for so I can just pick it up?"

"No, we need to have the prescription before we can fill it."

"Well... Why?"

"Because it's the law."

"Well... I can talk to a pharmacist?"

"Yes, but they're both busy with patients right now (they weren't, I was just hoping this guy didn't have the time to wait), can you hold?"

"Yes." (Damn)

I put him on hold and say "Steve, call on line one. Have fun with this one."

I asked Steve how the call went after he hung up, and he just laughed. "Did he tell you what the script was for?" I asked.

"Yeah, vicodin."

Figures.