e-Rx of the Week

This is something I've toyed around with for a while, and since I am enjoying many more curious prescriptions on a weekly basis, I figure I'll finally have the material for it.

The Rx's posted here may have a legitimate medical usage, but may still sound or humorous, or have an erroneous mistake. In all cases they caused more than a small case of laughter within the pharmacy.

The current e-Rx of the Week:

Patient Sex: Female
Drug: Viagra 50mg
Sig: Take 1/2 tablets by mouth twice daily as needed for esophageal spasms
Qty: #60
Ref: PRN

I do believe the jokes write themselves on this one...

The First Annual Angry Medical Professional Conference

Today there exists conferences for medical professionals on seemingly any topic. Yet there exists a void in the conference spectrum which could be of greater benefit than any other conference one would attend.

A conference in which medical professionals could bitch about their daily lives in their profession.

The sheer amount of booze consumed over this multiple day event, and yes it would be multiple days, would be astounding. The times we would have.... now those would be priceless.

If I have learned one thing over the last few months via conversations on Twitter, it's that we all enjoy sharing asinine stories about patients. It is a way we manage our frustration of our profession during a day.

Obviously, for HIPPA reasons, the names of the inane are never released, but the experiences can be retold in detail.

We could even have an awards ceremony for meeting various requirements of ineptitude.

"To the doctor who dealt with the foulest shit stench while in an exam room... BurbDoc!"
"To the creation of the best patient greeting card slogan... The Angry Pharmacist!"

Then we could all high five each other and take a shot of Tequlia.

We would share tears, laughter, and the occasional group singing of a Journey song. Really, this could be the greatest thing we ever contribute to the profession.

Now who's with me?

The Disconnect in Pharmacy Management

One of the disconnects in pharmacy, and truly in many jobs, are the orders which come down from the corporate side of the business. As most are aware, this time of year in pharmacy everyone is pushing for immunizations. Often the manner in which they are pushed, and promised to patients, shows a clear disconnect between what corporate wants and what is actually possible.

And truly there is a simple solution to this problem.

During my travels across the pharmacy world, I once worked for a successful, and fairly sizable, independent chain. The owner made it a point to regularly work a shift in one of his pharmacies in order to have an accurate gauge of what it was he was truly running.

It wasn't always a full day, but there was still a consistent amount of time spent in a store on a regular basis.

Wouldn't you know it, last I checked his business was thriving.

Why is it so hard to do this? Yes, we're all busy and needn't be bothered by additional work, but isn't it a good idea to have first hand knowledge of what things are like at ground level? Wouldn't many of the problems we face be mitigated if the person making decisions was actually forced to deal with them?

Would the regional manager who keeps cutting hours for technicians still do so if they were forced to work in a busy pharmacy with minimal help? Sure, it would not change the thought process of some, but I'm sure it would change it for some.

One of the things that is preached in business courses is efficiency. It is this which can bring in the most revenue over a long period of time. In order to run a business efficiently, one has to not rely merely on second-hand knowledge of processes. Obviously this is a stark change in how many upper managers conduct their business, but it seems so logical that it would be foolhardy to ignore it.

Then again, whoever said upper management was logical...

Maybe Being A Pharmacist Isn't So Bad

No words at needed for this post, but a simple warning. Do not start watching this video on full screen mode. You'll see why.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f2d_1284588370&p=1

Hooked on Phonics for Prescribing

Little verbiage from me today other than a collection of some prescriptions I have seen come my way over the past two weeks.

I thought being in a much bigger city would provide at least slightly better prescription writing skills.

I was wrong.

Avelox 40mg/0.4mL
#5
Inject Daily For Five Days

Vytorin 10/40mg
#6
Take 1 tablets as needed prior to sexual intercourse

Lisinopril 20mg
#30
Take 1 tablet. Inject in right eye four times daily for diarrhea

Oxycontin 80mg
#120
Take 1 tablet by mouth four times daily
Refills: PRN

Somewhere, some place, Grumpy is rolling around in his office...

Druggie Math

Woman comes to the drive thru Saturday night, naturally, ten minutes before close. She presents a narc prescription for Opana ER, an odd drug of choice around here.

We ever so kindly explain to her that we do not have this drug and, from our files, it does not appear anyone within our area has this particular strength in stock.

Her response?

Well.. I gots this injury and they give me like mor-feen which worked kinda good and Oxy which worked kinda good at someone told me this combines da two in ta one

Alrighty here, for those playing at home this druggie formulated the following math problem.

Oxycodone + Morphine = Oxymorphone

Actually, for a collection of people who cannot seem to figure out that 30 tablets, at one per day, equals a 30 day supply, this is pretty clever.

Sadly though, we attempted to explain to her that, like many other things in her life, she failed at this math problem.

Boo hoo.

Side note: When talking to your pharmacist, do not refer to Oxycontin as Oxy. Ya know, if you actually want us to fill anything for you.