I recently wrote about the AMA resolution.. telling RPH’s to not call them about anything.. https://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=3879
You know.. I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count on the number of times in a week.. that I both save and cover the prescriber’s ass…
How many times .. especially in a community setting.. you tell the pt.. that you need to clarify the Rx.. when the prescriber has F-upped.. you cover their ass and their reputation and their pt’s opinion of their prescriber… by “taking the hit”.. that you are not sure what is going on..
Maybe we ought to start living by the recommendation of the AMA.. let’s start laying it on the line with the pt when their prescriber.. screws up.. lets stop “taking the hit”.. looking like we might not know what is going on… we have to ask the almighty prescriber to help us understand what is going on..
I temp mostly in LTCP.. and when I say NO.. I mean NO.. I have had nurses threaten to call corporate on me saying NO.. I just ask them that they spell my name correctly when they do… I have NEVER had anyone from corporate come down on me for properly doing my job… I have even gotten “thank you” from prescribers for catching their very serious mistakes and refusing to fill them… because it would have most likely killed their patient.. but.. because of practicing in LTCP.. the pt never knows who I am .. or what I have done on their behalf…
I hope that this resolution by the AMA.. does not reflect on the relationship that many of us have with local prescribers… and we can just ignore it.. as a bunch of academic eggheads making decisions for those of us “in the trenches”
Filed under: General Problems
What if we pharmacists simply refused to fill every prescription that is not written completely correct? What about all these e-scripts? They are full of flaws! What if we stopped calling the docs to clarify a rx, but simply sent the patient back to the docs office? What about all these emergency room rx’s? I frequently get rx’s from the local emergency room for Lortab and the quantity is ‘0’. Instead of phoning the ER to get clarification, I could just send the patient back to get a new rx. What about patients allergic to a med? What if, instead of phoning, we just wrote on the rx that patient is allergic to med and told the patient to go back to the docs office and ask them to correct the rx or they will see a lawyer? I don’t think the AMA has thought through this issue. The docs don’t have the power they once did. Many are ‘owned’ by a big corporation and/or the insurance companies. I think we pharmacists can hold our own when it comes to issues with docs. So, the AMA had better back off! They should consider joining us pharmacists in an effort to get the DEA to back off regarding trying to control the number of control drugs to the point where they are denying meds to chronic pain patients.