PHARMACIST STEVE

Guest commentaries welcomed – even anonymously

4 Responses

1. 

   Ed B, on August 30, 2013 at 11:54 am said:

   The problem is with pharmacy as a profession. The field will continue to get worse and worse as supply continues to outstrip demand, and chains dominate the “Profession”. How can one take a medical field seriously when most registered pharmacy departments sell cigarettes. I guess the corner of happy and healthy!!

   Reply
2. 

   Proserpina, on July 3, 2013 at 11:22 pm said:

   My 7 year-old daughter (who has DiGeorge syndrome aka 22q11.2 deletion syndrome) was diagnosed with severe ADHD earlier this year. I decided to give medication a try. Discussed it with my doctor (a hot, 28 yo PGY2 family practice resident) in April and we settled on Strattera, but he explains that the Strattera and Adderall scripts can’t be phoned into the pharmacy. I have to come and pick them up in his office myself.

   Took the script to my regular Jewel-Osco pharmacy only to learn that my insurance won’t cover Strattera. Called my doctor and let him know. He won’t be in the office for a few days, but this time he checks with my insurance and says we can switch it to Adderall. So I have to come back in a few days for a script for Adderall.

   A few days later, I get the Adderall script and take it to my Osco pharmacy. The pharmacist there informs me that they have no Adderall in stock there. I said that’s fine; how long will it take to order it? She says it would take four days for it to arrive. I said I wasn’t in a rush and to go ahead and order it, I’ll just pick it up whenever it comes in.

   6 hours later (and long after hot doctor has left the office for the day), the Osco pharmacist calls me and leaves a message on my voicemail saying: (1) they aren’t going to fill the script because they don’t have the Adderall in stock (and here I thought we’d already discussed this not-having-Adderall-in-stock problem…), (2) hot doctor didn’t write his DEA number on the script, and they can’t take that over the phone. Why the Osco pharmacist couldn’t have told me #2 while I was in the store is just beyond me. I’m guessing hot doctor should have known to write his DEA # on the script anyways (not that it would have helped—read on!).

   I contact hot doctor about this yet again, and a few days later, he’s ready for me to come in and get another script for Adderall, this time with his DEA # on it. I’m a little fed up with the Osco pharmacist after this incident, so I decide to take the script to the nearby Target pharmacy. (There’s construction on the road to Target, btw, and it takes 10 minutes to travel just one block.) The Target pharmacist informs me that he can’t fill the script, either, because the physician who wrote it is a resident, and long story short, the system was changed recently and he has no way of verifying a resident’s DEA #. He says this is a recent change to the system and I shouldn’t be too hard on hot doctor for getting it wrong. Well, God bless that Target pharmacist, because even though I’m (understandably, I hope) rather flustered at being turned away for my daughter’s ADHD medication for the third time, and obviously none of this was his fault, he was so patient, gentle, apologetic, and kind in breaking all of this to me. Good pharmacists = the AWESOME.

   Made a fourth trip to my doctor’s office that day so that the attending could sign it and write her name and DEA # on the script, and finally got the thing filled.

   Hot doctor was out of town in May, so I had to see another resident for a refill. I very explained to him that the prescription needed to be signed by his attending with the attending’s name and DEA # on it. In spite of having explained this, I neglected to look carefully at the script he gave me. Got to Target only to learn that the attending had only written her DEA # on it; it had the resident’s name and (apparently) signature on it. AAARRRRGGGGHHHH. (It was the same nice pharmacist man and he was, once again, completely cool and sympathetic. Well worth driving through awful traffic to get to this pharmacy.)

   I go back to the doctor’s office only to learn that apparently that is the attending’s signature on the script. Yes, the resident printed the script with his name on it, and the attending signed her name on the line for the resident’s signature. And I guess we were supposed to know that was her signature and not his because doctors have such legible handwriting or something? This time the attending prints her name on the script, I take it back, and I get it filled.

   In June my hot doctor was back in town, so when I went in for the refill, I told him his attending needed to sign it, print his/her name on it, and write his/her DEA # on it. Hot doctor says, “Really? I wasn’t aware of that.” The nurses overhear me from the nurse’s station and holler back oh yes, it is so, lots of angry patients being sent back with scripts that can’t be filled. He comes back with a script with another doctor’s name on it, and I question that it’s his attending just to be sure. He says sarcastically, “No, I changed my name to [attending’s name].” Never before have I had such a strong desire to smack that oh-so-handsome 28 year-old face. I mean, I had to drive back to that doctor’s office SIX TIMES in two months just to fill two ADHD medication scripts. I think I’m allowed to be a little careful.

   Sorry for the long post, but you did say that if we had anything to get off our chests… and that is my one adventure in problems with the pharmacy…

   The good news is that the Adderall has been absolutely amazing for my daughter. So many people have remarked on the difference in her ability to pay attention and participate in group activities. I just love it.

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3. 

   Anonymous, on July 3, 2013 at 1:17 pm said:

   I hate that my insurance company will give out cheap pain killers but my child’s asthma inhaler is 50 dollars. We are non-smokers, immunized, live healthy lifestyles – yet asthma is a cost I have to suck up and pay for.

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4. 

   Anonymous, on June 24, 2013 at 10:24 pm said:

   Yes. I hate Rite aid in ways unimaginable. They are literally killing us with staff hour cuts and demands. And I have no doubt that our patients (ahem) will soon be noticing the “side effects ” of the way that this company is pleasing their investors. Bastards.

   Reply