New Domain, BigEvilRx.com

I’m in the process of moving my blog over to BigEvilRx.com. I needed to get something easy to remember and it allows me to now install plugins. I may take 24 hours to get everything situated, but I’m only getting about 20 views a day anyways. I appreciate anyone who is looking upon this site, and hope you enjoy the content. Please stay tuned to this url if you want to continue reading my blog.

As for now, you can jump over to BigEvilRx.com but I can’t guarantee it will have anything available until my next post.

BigEvilRx

Caption Humor

I saw these pictures while looking for drug images on google. I thought they were hilarious, and in serious need of captioning. Enjoy!

“Shhh, Jefferson! Get my camera, it’s the rare Senior Asian Pharmacist! I need to get this on film! The boys at the country club won’t dare believe me!”

“OMG! I’m so glad my insurance covered my suppositories!”

“Us glamorous young girls can take as many pills as we want. We’re wild, crazy, and party with Paris Hilton!”

“I can’t seem to keep my birth control pill in place. I’ve had to insert three already, and it’s only been an hour since I picked them up. Can I have ‘Nuvaring’ instead? I hear you chew it like Bubblegum, and it tastes ‘original’, right?”

“Look how ethnic we are! We’re taking Vitamins! Both of us are Ethnic! Kill Whitey! We’re so ethnic!”

“I need attention! Someone please find me! I don’t want to actually have to take these pills I purposely sprawled across the bed! I’m so drama!”

“$1.00? Medicaid is down? I’m not paying for that! (“It’s your child’s ‘Amoxicillin’, Ma’am). Look, I’ll trade you these ‘Xanax’, I sell them on the street all the time for $25 a pill.”

“That will be $4.00. Would you like to super-size that for only .69? That comes with one extra 30-day supply!”

“Bloody Brilliant, Jefferson! Cracker Jack Luck I have, yet another Senior Asian Pharmacist performing the complex task of looking at medicine!”

Among the Hoopla, I Suggest Another Story

So here we are being inundated with images and stories of the presidential inaugural address. I’ve decided not to bore anyone with politics because I’m not a pundit, and this is not a political blog. Oh, and I hate politics. Instead, I would like to focus on an issue addressed to me earlier by an email exchange with The Angriest Pharmacist.

E-scribe, everywhere 5-10 years from now, is simply a “State-of-the-Art Dictation and Transcription Service Serving the Medical and Legal Community throughout the United States.” I call bullshit. Or at least an over exaggeration with words. Here is the list of what it can do.

· Digital Phone-in and Hand-held Recorder Dictation.
· Flexible Audio Input.
· Automatic Transfer Remote Facilities.
· Online Data Storage and Retrieval of Files.
· Integrated and Automated Document Distribution.
· Password Protected and Secure Access.
· Ability to Manage Clients of Any Size with Diverse Needs.

“State-of-the-Art” Give me a f’ing break. Okay, yes you will relieve the task of interpreting a doctor’s handwriting. Which makes me sad because I love trying to figure it out. However, This could have been implemented years ago. I’m only guessing it hasn’t because you market it as some ingenious idea that only you can produce, and probably charge ridiculous amounts for. I’m feeling a bit too negative with this post, and I don’t want my blog to sound like that. So I better leave it at that.

Am I looking at the wrong technology though? Why can’t the doctor get a program that email’s prescriptions securely to a national server. Then, all Pharmacies can access the data with the correct information (name,dob,mailing address,etc.) to remove any chance of faux Rx’s by Carl ‘Soma King’ Winslow. Give them an access code like their DEA number. This is not rocket science.

On a side note, I can do all this with my Livescribe Pulse Smartpen. Which costs me just $200. Maybe I’m not seeing the big picture though, but it doesn’t sound like much.

P.S. American Idol has brought the bat-shit crazy people out again. Wow!

Someone’s At The Door, Why Don’t You Get It.

It’s the new ‘Big-Evil’ in town, almost a year old I think.  I started work there soon after it had opened.  Recently, the management decided to install a device close by the pharmacy.  Every time it went off, it sounded like someone was coming over to your house.  All because some people are idiotic criminals who steal the damn razors.  Now, we deal with another set of complaints from customers about how they have to wait two bloody minutes to continue shopping.  And yet other people will stop by the razors and ring the bell they installed 8-10 times in a row.  No exaggeration.

Where the hell is the patience?  I’ve been working in the pharmacy all afternoon.  It’s been at least two hours since we heard the bell.  There is no way you stood in the razor aisle for that long.  Then you have the nerve to cuss me out when I arrive a minute later to unlock some Gillette Blades.  I’m at least glad the pharmacy manager said we will not deal with it anymore.  That would be left up to those on the floor.  But still, I like those people and I don’t think it’s right for them to get verbally accosted on account of a $3 pack of blades.  Hold your damn horses, or go somewhere else.

This is the worst idea I’ve ever seen implemented to deter criminal activity at a retail chain.  Meanwhile, you have people ripping open boxes of condoms to steal a few.  Which is apparent due to the stack of condom boxes in the pharmacy waiting to be resealed and sent to claims.

Inspired By ‘Not Really There’

(Local ‘Big Evil’ Pharmacy, a customer strolls up to the drop-off window.)

Me: “Hi.”

Customer: “I want this filled generic.”

Me: “We always fill it generic, if we can.  When would you like to pick this up?”

Customer: “Now.”

Me: “Our wait time is about forty-five minutes to an hour.”

Customer: “What??  All you have to do is stick it in a bottle and slap a sticker on it.”

Me: “Ma’m, there is more to it than that.”

Customer: “Well, I need it now, and I want it for $4.00.”

(I look at her prescription, a 30-day supply of Hydroco/APAP 5-500mg.  I’ve seen this one a lot.)

Me: “This will cost you $9.68, ma’m.”

Customer: “Nah, I want generic not brand.”

Me: “The brand is cheaper.”

Customer: “Well, anyways, I want it for $4.00″

Me: “I can’t do anything about that, but maybe your insur-”

Customer: “I don’t have insurance.  Give me the generic.”

Me: “Ma’m, the generic will cost you over $12.”

Customer: “The TV said you have generic’s for $4.00″

(The customer’s friend walks up.  I continue to input the prescription.)

Customer (to friend):  ”Can you believe this, it’s an hour’s wait.”

Friend: “What, naw, I ain’t fixin’ to stay in here no g** d*** hour.  You gonna fill it now.”

(Looking at me, I decide to respond.  A line has started behind them.)

Me: “Sir, let’s put that in perspective.  See that person in the back of the line.”

Friend: “I ain’t worried about that person, fill the damn prescription.”

Me: “We’re in the process, but say I put your friend’s script in.  Then when the lady in the back of the line gets up here, I’ll put her’s ahead of your friend’s.  Would that be fair?”

Customer: “Hey, wait a damn second.  You better not fill that b****es medicine before mine.”

Me: “I won’t do that, trust me.  But we didn’t just open.  It is past 2:00pm and we have had plenty of people stop by today.”

Friend: “Hell, we was here first.  You closed for thirty minutes, we ought to be first to be filled.”

Me: “Yes, your correct but we closed for lunch.  That means all production stopped.  We have over thirty in fill right now ahead of you.  However, we will get it to you today.”

Friend: “Well, she needs it.”

Me: “Okay, well it will be $9.68.  Check back in an hour, 3:00pm.”

Friend: “Wait a darn minute, it’s supposed to be $4.00.  Says so on the tv.  She wants generic.”

(Here we go again.)

So We Lose A Good Guy

I’ve just learned that I work at one of the hot spots in pharmacy.  Apparently, we have some of the most vile, inconsiderate, irate, uncontrollable (add more descriptive adjectives) customers ever experienced by one of the pharmacist’s I worked for.  This guy was awesome.  He was professional but kept the workplace from becoming stale, and joke-free.  After all, how are we supposed to survive without humor in such conditions.  I’m not too keen on his working history, but I knew he worked for the Naval hospital and loved it there.

As it turns out, he gave up at our store after only 30 days on the job.  Do I blame the guy?  Hell no.  He has the option, and surely if the people I work with were not so great I would have gone back to the free clinic.  But I enjoy my job, and I thought the customers generally were like that at every pharmacy.  It gives me a good feeling knowing that I can survive at this location.  We will certainly miss him as we all thought he was a good pharmacist.  It’s something to think about whenever I get out of school.

He told us he’s working at an independent on the other side of town.  I hope all is better there, although I wish we had it better here.  Scratch that.  I don’t know if I could handle all-nice patients.  After all, I am a fan of Dr. House.  Oh please, please, please take a vacation and get a refill for your vicodin.

(Pssst, I know he’s not real….and he obtains them without a prescription.)  : )

Rx SIG Learner Demo Available

I just uploaded the demo of an Rx SIG Learning application here. So try it out and tell me what you think.  I’m using a sheet from work as my key.  It runs through some of the early SIG codes I’ve learned.   I’m hoping to establish a cache of educational training applications which instruct the user on what they can use in the workplace, but in a less boring light.

It works a lot like the Rosetta Stone software, but without pictures.  If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

I’m Looking For The Warning Labels

This being my second post, I wanted to ask if anyone has a funny warning labels I can slap on my banner up top.  I stole the first one from a post TAestP wrote because it made me laugh.  Not sure if it’s a real word or not, but I thought it funny.  Anyways, I added the second one really quickly because the first one looked lonely.  I’m gonna set this to publish tomorrow afternoon while I’m at work.  I don’t expect anybody to be reading this blog, but nobody will read it until content is there to read.

Saturdays can tend to be slow and dull or out of control and hectic.  I don’t want to jinx myself so I’ll leave it at that.  I hope Les is working.  It’s always a good day when he is the Pharmacist.  Hell, I hope when I’m 62+ that I can still work and be relaxed.  It’s wierd, but I have yet to meet a Pharmacist who is mean.  I must be lucky or something.

When Patients Change Your Attitude

So I’m working the other night, and a customer comes in.  I’ve seen this person here a few times.  He was hostile in every previous situation.  On an earlier occurance, a fellow technician told me “I think he can’t read, so that’s why he’s probably frustrated”.  Huh.  Well, that exchange was clearly filled with tension from his attitude and when I told him to read and sign the prompt, he said “I can’t..I can’t…I can’t.”  This was yelling, not casual conversation.  His speech slurred and I was startled by it.  At that moment, the technician told me why.  Interesting.  So I finished with him and let it go.  What would your intial thoughts be on this?  Grouchy?  Keep reading, please.

Just two days ago, I’m at dropoff and he walks up.  Great, I’m thinking.  He is going to be difficult.  ”Would you like to fill a prescription,” I ask “…It’s about an hour wait.” “yes” he grunted.  He spoke words that were undiscernable and when I said “excuse me”, he flew off the handle.  ”Cos-t”,”Cos-t”,”Cos-t.”  I pause, look at the script and then to the computer.  As I’m inputting the drug names, he started to say something.  Now, this moment removed any doubt I had of being a Pharmacist and is driving me forward.  This man had solidified my career choice.

I find the cost for generics and explain to him the prices for each drug.  We had another small exchange that I’d like to keep private, but I was looking at this man.  A person who could have been my father.  His eyes are welling up, and he’s trying to get across to me what it is that is on his mind.  That was the moment I truly cared about a patient, and I felt empathy at a level which gives me chills.  I’m not a heartless bastard, but until this I didn’t really have any emotional attachment towards a customer.

Here, this man was going through something profound.  What did he tell me as I looked up the drugs?  I politely asked the pharmacist for priority on his medication.  He came back in 10 minutes, and I motioned him over to the register.  How frustrating it must be to live after a stroke I thought.  I couldn’t shake him from my mind all afternoon.  Damn it, I’m going to be a Pharmacist and look out for people who need compassion.  Not pity, but true caring and understanding.  Hello lady that points at your driver’s license when I ask your name.  Hola senorita, mi español es muy mal pero me comprendo.  Yo’ man with the loud obnoxious laugh, I’ll laugh along. 

Thanks, in advance.