Wednesday, August 09, 2006

I Bet They Have A Yellow Ribbon Magnet On Their Car Though, Which Is Really What's Important

Them: "Hello, George W. Bush Center For Perpetual War Military Pharmacy"

Me: "Hi this is the Drugnazi calling for a prescription transfer."

Them: "Drugnazi!? What are you, sick?"

Ok, the place isn't named after President monkey-boy (yet) and I didn't say I was the drugnazi. I swear the rest is pretty much a verbatim transcript of a conversation I had with these people though.

Them: "We don't transfer prescriptions to civilian pharmacies sir"

Me: "What?"

Them: "We can only do transfers to other military pharmacies sir"

Me: "Is the Defense Department worried that competition from retail drugstores is going to put them out of business?"

Them: silence.

Me: "The guy said you don't have the med up there, so he's looking for someone who can fill the prescription today."

Them: "We can't do transfers to civilian pharmacies sir"

Me: "You realize he's not going to get anything if you don't transfer"

Them: "I can't help that sir"

(It is kinda cool how they always call you "sir.")

Me: "Is this an example of how we should be supporting the troops?"

Them: click.

You know, I hated this war before it was cool to hate this war. Because of that I'm not too fond of the people who volunteered to fight it. But it was this lefty liberal pinko un-American freak that took his professional responsibilities seriously enough to do an emergency prescription for GI Joe, while his comrades in uniform evidently couldn't care less about him.

Oh the irony.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It probably wasn't the DoD pharmacist's fault that he couldn't transfer the script - its just a policy he's made to follow...don't hate the rule-follower, hate the rule-maker. However, he COULD have suggested to you what alternative the GI was supposed to take in a situation like that instead of hiding behind the "I can't help that, sir" comment.

DrugMonkey, Master of Pharmacy said...

When I was on college, one of my professors was serving on the state board. One day she posed a question to the class. A man comes to your counter clutching his chest and gasps out that he has a prescription for Nitroglycerin that was filled at another pharmacy, but no tablets with him. What do you do? The overwhelming consensus among the class was that you would try to call his doctor/pharmacy and get him a legitimate prescription. The prof then let us know in no uncertain terms that that was exactly the wrong answer. You would be fully expected to immediately give the man a dose of NTG. As amazing as it may seem to some people, we had to be taught that we should not let someone die.

Later on, I had a boss who was also serving on the state board. He told me no matter what a pharmacist did, if they could frame it as they did what was best for the patient, the board would never give them any problem. Ever since that moment I have spent many an hour trying to frame an argument that putting a pill counting spatula through a patients eyeball and into their brain was really synergistic to the care they were receiving from another health care provider. So far however, such a scenario has proven beyond my powers of logic.

Point being this: anyone with any authority over the profession will tell you that while yes, we have rules, they are never to get in the way of patient care. You are a professional, and professionals get to use their judgment to do what's best for people who entrust them with their well being.

So as to your question #3, I tell people I can't do something because it's against the rules lots of times, when I hate them and want to make their day a little harder, but never when it might actually hurt them. In GI Joe's case, his prescription was for propranolol. Let's say I had told him "tough luck, rules are rules" and sent him out the door empty handed. He then gets a crushing migraine while driving home which causes him to crash his car. EVERYONE IN THE PROFESSION LISTEN TO THIS PART: He then would probably have a decent case for suing me for NOT filling the prescription, as I was aware he was taking a maintenance med for migraine prophylaxis, had every reason to believe he had a legitimate prescription and was under the proper care of a physician, yet chose a professional course of action that put him in danger.

I once worked with a guy putting in a few years as a military pharmacy tech to get some money for school. Working with me at night was his second job. During his breaks, he would go back, lie on the floor of the pharmacy, and fall asleep, magically waking up almost the exact second his break was over. It was the damndest thing, and has absolutely nothing to do with anything else I've said here.

philskaren said...

i was able to transfer from a base pharmacy to my retail pharmacy just the other day, hmmm. GI Pharm D wannabe is making up rules?

on another note:

Those damn tricare (that's what it is out here)customers-just today this old bitty didn't want her Lexapro anymore b/c it was now 22 bucks for a 90 day supply instead of 9. OMG 22 dollars, yah, thats what she said. She said drug companies are ripping her off.

they want to boss you around and then feel thier entitled to everything....it's like look honey, your not on your precious base anymore......

Anonymous said...

R u kidding??? I have patients complain abot $1.10!!