Stop Coddling People

We live in one of the most glorious times in human existence. At no other time in our time on this planet have we had such plentiful and easy access to all of life's necessities.

No, I'm not talking about the internet, or Walmart or anything of that nature. I'm talking about the new dominate form of humanity... hand holding.

All we do is coddle people in this country. Each day fewer and fewer people take responsibility for their own actions and expect others to pick up the slack for them. And, for the most part, we keep on smiling and going about our day.

How is it someone who is on state insurance, and by definition has insufficient personal funds to provide basic health services, can afford some of the things they own? Regularly you see Medicaid patients roll up in their fancy cars with shiny rims while chatting on their iPhone which is full of various paid add-ons.

"Rather spend your money on making yourself looking ghetto fabulous rather than paying your own bills? Well hell, we'll pay for it then!"

I do not believe that if you are poor that you should be forced to live in squalor. I do believe, however, that you should not be able to live a more extravagant life than I.

When calculating eligibility for welfare, why do they not take a better look at the recipients assets? If they drive up to the SSA office to pick up their check in an Escalade riding on 24 inch rims, you would think that perhaps they don't need those benefits, no?

And yet we hold their hands. Some states take it a step further and tell their medicaid recipients that pharmacies have no right to refuse their prescription if they do not have the co-pay.

Great. Way to give them even more power. It's bad enough I'm paying for their own ineptitude, but now you're giving them a reason to refuse payment so they can buy another intricate tramp stamp.

Awesome.

I won't even get into the economic aspects, considering that for many medicaid programs most of the monies received over cost come from that small copay.

The system has failed spectacularly. Social workers, and I've run into my fair share who could use a 2x4 upside the head, are some of the least paid government workers on the basis of the shit they put up with. I do not envy them in one bit.

Perhaps it would be better if instead of giving these people free will over their spending that they have some sort of proxy to determine for them if they can spend their money on said item. They should not be able to drop $200+ on a phone when they 'cannot afford' the $1 copay on their child's antibiotic.

What right do they have to be able to manage their own finances? Isn't that what partially got them in this position to begin with?

For the love of God, stop coddling people. Make them take responsibility for their actions. It's not that freakin' hard.

Don't Tell Me I Can't Do Something

If you really want to light a fire under my ass, try telling me I can't do something. For whatever reason, when someone states that I will be unable to accomplish something, it ignites this insane desire to not only succeed, but to do so at an astronomical level.

When I first started in pharmacy, back when I was a wee 15 year old, someone told me that there was no way I would last long as an employee. After that, I strove to disprove that and ultimately worked for that pharmacy for eight years, including a consultation gig, and it is part of what drove me to pharmacy.

When I made the decision to continue on to pharmacy despite my lowly GPA, several people told me it was a fruitless cause. Needless to say, it was a great thrill when I ran into one of them recently when I was able to tell them that not only was I accepted at one school, but I was accepted at four.

Normally I am not overly competitive. Most of the time I think excessive competition is fruitless for all parties involved. Yet, I make an exception in these cases.

What brings this up? I've had a couple of people tell me that there is no way I will be able to succeed in pharmacy school seeing as I need to work many more hours than a normal pharmacy student and raise a family well doing so.

Oh it's on now.

I may have said I'm not shooting for Rho Chi, or anything of that nature, but I'm sure as hell not going to roll over these next four years. My goal is to be able to bitch slap these people during my graduation with all that I have accomplished.

And it shall be glorious.

Who Cares About Rho Chi?

All anyone is talking about since we started school is Rho Chi.

Rho Chi this, Rho Chi that. Next year, I wanna be in Rho Chi so my schlong will go another six inches and/or my breasts will increase a cup size. I really hope someone doesn't answer 'and' to that question.

Ok, so maybe I made that last part up, but it's rather annoying.

So, to continue my trend of... well bucking the trend, I shall make the following proclamation.

I, Phathead, being of somewhat sound mind, body and judgment hereby declare that during my tenure in pharmacy school I will not, under any circumstance, strive for a GPA of 4.0 ~~~ Signed, Phathead - September 15th, 2010

Sure, there are some of you going "What in the hell is he smoking?" or "Dumbass."

I am a firm believer that grades, on the whole, don't matter. Fifteen years down the road, you're employer won't care if you earned a 4.0 or 3.9 or shit monkeys out of your ass on Sundays. Granted, GPA is one of the deciding factors on who gets what residency, but in case some of you have not gathered, I have no desire to go the residency route.

In one of my interviews, I was asked a question similar to this. My response was that, in the end what does it really matter? Do I want to subject my mind to even more stress and fatigue to gain an extra 0.1 GPA point? Do I want to devote time to an endeavor which ultimately is not worth it for myself?

I would rather be a well-rounded, well-learned individual who is able to think rationally, and quickly, when required.

I'm not saying that I will slack off over the next four years. What I'm saying is that if I earn a B on a test instead of an A, it's not the end of the world. I have my own personal standards that I will maintain, but needing to earn all A's is not one of them.

Some people like to set challenges for themselves, and earning a 4.0 is certainly a challenge. It simply is not a challenge I am interested in. I feel I can better spend that exertion elsewhere.

Plus I will help cease the proliferation of gray hairs that were started by my pre-pharmacy stress levels. At least that's what I'll continue to tell myself...

I Get It, I Finally Get It

For the last two weeks or so I have been becoming acclimated to working in a Walgreens pharmacy. After almost ten years at independents, I figure I would begin to develop an understanding for the other side of the retail table.

And I finally get it.

I understand why they typically cannot fill a prescription in a timely manner.

I understand why pharmacists stated they are overworked on a daily basis.

I understand why people say pharmacy is not fun on a regular basis.

Why? Because WAGs workflow sucks.

I'm all for preventing errors. I have no qualms about double checking. The number of fail safes the pharmacy has, however, is broaderline overkill.

You cannot accomplish anything in a timely manner. Enter a prescription, it has to be reviewed. Need a partial? Has to be reviewed. Want to fill something? Have to scan it and wait 20 seconds for it to register.

Don't get me wrong, they have several very cool systems. There is just not a good workflow. It's clunky and slow.

What makes it worse is the lack of patient interaction. I'm used to an open air pharmacy and being able to converse with waiting patients as you please. It is a nice change of pace and often brings a lightheartedness to a stressful day.

Not here, the most interaction I get to enjoy is telling someone how much their bill is.

Obviouslly I have been jaded. I have toured many, many pharmacies over the years, but never long enough to see the full picture. This isn't fun... It's a chore.

Of course it doesn't help that all of my co-workers are uber serious all the time, but even if they were fun, it still wouldn't solve all of the problems.

I feel for all of you, I really do now. Some of you may have never ecperienced how great working in a pharmacy can truly be.

And that is the most sad fact of all.

What's The Point?

I'm sitting in class today listening to my fellow classmates ask various questions throughout the multitude of courses we have on a daily basis. Through all of the student associations stopping by (Remember to come play beach volleyball everyone!), to the overly peppy IPPE instructors (You can really make a difference in someone's life!), I find myself ending each day with the same question.

What's the point?

I have a fairly good gauge of what at least half of the students in my class are like. For years I have had a tendency to observe people and gather an idea of who they are as a person. It's a hobby if you will.

There are some who lack a backbone, many who know nothing about the profession and more than a few who lack decent communication skills. These, are your future pharmacists.

As I head to work, I observe the interns and other undergrads who attempting to be accepted to school. There's the girl who gives a blank stare to everyone who comes to the counter, the intern who is unable to answer a simple question, the pharmacist who doesn't know the difference between Zaditor and Zyrtec eye drops.

And for the record, there is no difference.

Throughout the pharmacy blogosphere we have pharmacists, technicians and interns across the country yearning for change. Some, most notably Eric, Pharmacist, have taken it in their own hands to fight the good fight.

Good ole J.P. attempted something grand with The Pharmacy Alliance, but it has never gotten off the ground for various reasons.

And I think I have traced this fact to two many problems.

1) Obtuseness
2) Lethargy

The former is simply ignoring what is surrounding you. My classmates, thus far, seem to be quite keen on this. I would say ignorance would be a better word, but it is so clearly presented so many times that ignorance is not an excuse.

Lethargy might be the even bigger problem. Those who see the problems, but do not care enough to act on it. With older pharmacists, I can somewhat understand this because the profession has changed so drastically from what they first envisioned that it may very well be overwhelming.

A simple solution, at least in my eyes, is to start young. Get them while they're still in pharmacy school. Begin now to open the eyes and brains of my fellow classmates to what the world is truly like.

Start a revolution if you will.

Then, and only then, will we develop a point. We have excessively bright minds in this field that could be put to much better use than simply clearing a DUR. If organizations like the APhA won't do it, then perhaps students need to get involved with a new organization. One that will actually prepare people for the real world.

Until then... What's the point?

Head, Meet Wall

"Ooooh oooh oooh, I know the answer!"

I have a feeling I'll be hearing that phrase, or some variation of it, a lot over the next three years. The biggest question is whether or not there is enough alcohol in the world to keep me from strangling said persons.

Case in point, we had our first group work of the semester yesterday. Nothing overly difficult, obviously, but it was the first interaction of small groups since we've been in pharmacy school.

And it made my head hurt.

What the hell is it with people? I derive the answer to a question their asking, explain it to them and their response is, "Well I understand what you're saying, but I'd prefer to have written proof from another source before putting that down as my answer."

Huh? It's the opening lab of the first year of pharmacy school. It's just a simple question which is not going to be scored? What the fuck does it matter?

Later on we come to another question in which they were a bit stumped. It involved how a certain aspect of the human body operated. I remembered, in great detail, how this action worked and explained it to them in as remedial terms as I could.

Their response? Ask a TA who repeated, almost word for word, what I said.

Then there was a question regarding data and whether or not it would be wise to draw a linear line through the points. There were six points and they were in a row, albeit not a perfect row though.

A debate began on what was meant by 'drawing through the points'. Did it mean that it had to go directly through the points, because the answer is no since you can't do that. What if the data plateaus off in the future or becomes parabolic. Maybe that one point is an outlier (it was maybe 2mm off the other data points) and shouldn't be counted.

All on one fucking question.

It's going to be an awful long three years...