Urogenital Warfare

Just had a young woman bring in couple prescriptions about twenty minutes ago. Took a look at them and immediately felt bad for her. They were as follows

• Fluconazole
• Valtrex
• Proctosol
• Docusate

Seems as if this poor woman's urogenital region has decided to lay siege upon itself. For those non-pharmacy geeks those four drugs are for a yeast infection, herpes (in her case), hemorrhoids and stool softener. Basically she was itchy, blotchy, and backed up.

I almost wanted to give her a hug or by her a card or something. My god have mercy on her... well nether regions.

Can No One Answer A Goddamn Phone?!?

I have no idea what the hell it is with our clerks in our company but most of them flat out will not answer the phones. Its not like we're playing with Barbies back here, usually I'm left busting my ass all day to get scripts out and would really like to not have to answer the phone just to hear "Do you have any milk?"

And when you ask the clerks kindly to be more aware of the phone, they snap back at you. I'm sorry but my dealing with insurances on the phone or filling a C-II greatly outweighs your need to face the shelves. Oh wait, its in your job description to ANSWER THE MOTHERFUCKING PHONE.

I'm running an experiment today by not answering the phones at all. The majority of calls on a Sunday are ones in which we don't have to answer. I usually do on the weekends, since its slow on most days, just to be nice. So far I have watched as four phone calls were never picked up. What were the clerks doing at this point? Doodling in a notebook. Needless to say the experiment is over as it is completely unfair to customers, but still what the hell does a person have to do to get someone to answer the goddamn phone?

Medica is a Cocksucker

So the state Medicaid system has several different plans in our area, one of which goes through Medicaid. Its bad enough that people switch between three or four plans several times a year, but usually we don't need any new info when this happens. We add a 0 here, a 0 there, change the processor and boom it works.

Not Medica. You see some fuckwad thinks its a brilliant idea to change group numbers monthly. Group number was 56817 this month, next month it may be 56819. And they don't tell anyone. Usually the cards are a month behind (i.e. we'll get the 56819 card right when they're switchin to the next f'n number). The best part, sometimes they don't even wait until the end of the month. It can be the 20th and all of a sudden you're getting a reject saying Non-Matched Cardholder ID. I swear there is some sick sadistic pleasure in this.

Therefore I give Medica a big ole middle finger. You are a bitch, and I hope you catch gonorrhea.

This Is Your Future Pharmacist

I have had the opportunity the last five years to work with about 30 pharmacy interns and countless other pre-pharm students. You know what I have discovered after these past five years? The system is seriously fucked. I mean royally fucked up the ass.

Of those 30 interns I have met two or three whom I could say I actually liked. Those three will make great pharmacists once they are done with school. The other 27.... well that's another story. I do not mean to come off condescending to those in pharmacy school. I have met several outside of work settings who do not meet what I'm going to bitch about here and I am not trying to single them out. This is more of a release of frustration for a system which I, and I know many many others, agree is screwed.

We have a kid working for us who was just accepted to pharmacy school. He is an extremely bright individual, I will give him that. The kinda kid who can look at a chapter once and understand it. But the kid is a complete and utter dipshit. He has worked for us for over three years and came up to me the other day and asked me if a tech could refill a prescription. How do you work in a pharmacy for three years and not pick up on this? Furthermore you ask him a question and you can literally see the synapses working in his brain as he actually receives the question. He's bright for sure, but he has no communication skills and just simply isn't that quick. I hope to God he ends up in a nuclear pharmacy (something I would assume he would excel at) and not a place which deals with a high volume of customers. This is your future pharmacist.

I have seen a fourth year discussing an antibiotic prescription with a patient. When asked what he couldn't take it with, this intern went into enzymatic reactions and actually started to draw a diagram of the molecule. I looked at the man and simply told him do not take with milk and/or dairy products. This is your future pharmacist.

There is another kid who is a first year whom I have worked with. One day I caught an error he had made and the pharmacist had thus missed, (he was a fill-in). The kid had filled Hydroxyzine 25mg (an antihistamine) with Hydralazine 25mg (a vasodilator). When I brought it to this kid's attention he just laughed it off saying that it was just a simple mistake. That is not a simple mistake. You could chalk it up to him being only a first year, but this was another kid who had been with us for a while and should have known better. This is you future pharmacist.

We have had SEVERAL interns who decided they were too good for just about everything. They were going to be pharmacists so they didn't have to put paper in the fax machine when it ran out or actually fill a prescription. These were usually the ones who went into pharmacy school namely for the money. This is your future pharmacist.

I have worked with several first and second years whom had never worked in a pharmacy before and literally knew nothing about the field. Its as if they just closed their eyes and picked a profession. These are usually the ones who are caught wide-eyed by the fact you have to deal with customers and insurances and customers and wholesalers and customers. These students can go either way, but I can only hope they can deal with the stress. This is you future pharmacist.

So where does that leave us? In my fight to get into pharmacy school I see countless kids who have 4.0 GPAs but couldn't tell a spatula from their finger get into pharmacy school. Meanwhile there are ~3.0 GPA students whom actually care about the profession, myself included, who envelope everything there is about pharmacy into their lives and they get shut out. It seems unfair to reward a student brains coming out their ass, but whom has no people skills and really is just smart, nothing else, over someone who actually cares about the industry.

I have talked to many many pharmacists (I have worked with roughly 30 in my eight years) and they all say the same thing. The general consensus is that the 'C' student during undergrad years will by far be the best pharmacist. That the selection process itself is entirely unfair and that pharmacists who are coming out of school now are not near as competent as those who came out roughly ten years ago. I know several pharmacists who fight with schools on a yearly basis to help remedy this issue.

Alas I am left to continue this fight for my dream. This entire rant was not to put down all pharmacy school students, as my disclaimer stated. This is more of a bitch about the system as a whole. I will get in at some point, I don't know when but damnit I'm not going down without a fight. Cause ya know what, I want to be your future pharmacist and I will do whatever I can to ensure that.

The College Gods Shat On Me Again...

I am in for another week of four tests. What the fuck is with this lately. It is as of the Gods are smiting me for some wrong I did... not that I do anything wrong however. I am an angel. Kind of. Well not so much.



Fun fact of the day, want to know what you should name your child if you want them to grow up to be a transvestite? - Merlinda. What the fuck kind of name is that?

A Tragedy

I am sad tonight. Why you may ask? Because last night I lost my favorite hat.

I went out drinking last night (and before I get bitched for drinking on a Tuesday realize its the only day during the week when my friends and I are in the same city and the same time) and had myself a merry old time. Prior to leaving I had grabbed my favorite hat, a brownish University of Nebraska - Omaha hat, and tossed it on the ole brain box.

On the way back home a window was rolled down and, since I was hot, drunk and am naturally a dumbass, I stuck my head out of it a bit. The wind must have caught it just right for my hat was ripped from my head. We also happened to be going over a bridge at the moment. So I watched in agony as my beloved hat drifted up and off the bridge and into the great Lake Superior. My hat was gone.

I woke up in a pleasant enough mood and it wasn't until I was crossing that same bridge to go to work did I realize what had occurred the night before. I searched in vain for it as I was crossing it but to no avail. I miss my hat. :(