Chance of catching infectious diseases while working in retail pharmacy

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ethyl

Go suck on a Zoloft.
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Do you believe it's possible to catch herpes or other incurable diseases while in a pharmacy? eg. person with oral herpes hands you a box of Abreva after picking at their sores, and afterward you wipe your mouth. Or someone hands you a nasty greased up tube of Zovirax to tell you they need a refill... (maybe covered in some creamy herpes discharge?) then you go use the bathroom. /germaphobe

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Thank you for making me want to skip work tomorrow :mad:.
 
That's why I wash my hands every 5 minutes!!!! You're probably just as likely to pick something up from a public washroom/bus/keyboard etc etc, but I definitely think there's some extra room for paranoia in a pharmacy

PS I definitely wash my hands BEFORE I go on a lunch or bathroom break, but I'm more paranoid about catching colds from all the sickies who cough all over me and use my pen (I've been known to slather my pen in Purell)
 
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I'd say the chance if catching something at a retail pharmacy is lower than at a hospital. Like UBC said I wash my hands a TON, probably 7-8 times per shift.
 
Never, ever touch your face no matter how many times you wash your hands. Make sure you're current on immunizations, especially influenza. That spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol is your friend. Spray everything. I spray and wipe down counters, spatulas, counting trays and my own hands multiple times during the day. Following the hand spray with a little lotion helps with dryness, but the lotion can trap microorganisms (hence the prohibition on touching the face).
 
I honestly try not to dwell to much on this!! Washing your hands frequently is really the best choice. I do spray things down with alcohol but patients are constantly handing me their old vials for refills and such so I know I'm always covered in germs. :eek:
 
i used to volunteer at an infectious disease pharmacy at a hospital (Kaiser). :scared:

it's weird, because the pharmacists and techs would always have food laying around (on paper plates or napkins), and they'd always be munching on food while working, without washing their hands between working and munching away! gross :scared: i guess that explains their weight problems, but i guess that's a whole different topic. :laugh:
 
...And why are people's empty vials always so greasy?? Whats up with that?

..because it was probably from the mcdonalds' fries that they just downed.
 
...And why are people's empty vials always so greasy?? Whats up with that?

You wanna talk greasy!??!?! I once had this huge fat b*tch pull up into my drive thru eating.....a F*CKING BBQ CHICKEN LEG. That's right! AND, to top it off, she wouldn't put the f'in thing down to slide the script underneath the metal bar in the drive thru box. To go one step further, she only had one bbq covered hand free, which she proceeded to use to crumple up and ram the prescription into the metal bar. The entire while, she didn't even look at me. She was too busy chewing on her chicken leg. You can imagine how disgusting that script was.

I still picked it up.
 
You wanna talk greasy!??!?! I once had this huge fat b*tch pull up into my drive thru eating.....a F*CKING BBQ CHICKEN LEG. That's right! AND, to top it off, she wouldn't put the f'in thing down to slide the script underneath the metal bar in the drive thru box. To go one step further, she only had one bbq covered hand free, which she proceeded to use to crumple up and ram the prescription into the metal bar. The entire while, she didn't even look at me. She was too busy chewing on her chicken leg. You can imagine how disgusting that script was.

I still picked it up.
an illegible script is an illegal script. gotta call the doctor sorry.
 
an illegible script is an illegal script. gotta call the doctor sorry.

LOL I wonder how a call like that would go. "Hi doctor. Sorry to bother you, but your patient dropped off a crumpled script covered in BBQ sauce. I can't decipher it anymore."
 
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LOL I wonder how a call like that would go. "Hi doctor. Sorry to bother you, but your patient dropped off a crumpled script covered in BBQ sauce. I can't decipher it anymore."

Doctor will go, "What!? BBQ sauce?! I already told the patient to cut down on fats. <pause> The medication was for Lipitor 5 mg... can you change that to 10 mg? Thanks." :laugh:
 
I've gotten a C2 script brought in that's been dropped in a bedpan. Grossest thing ever. And the patient actually thought that I was gonna take it and file it with all the others. Yeah right. We sent the them back to the doctor's office to get a rewrite.
 
:barf:

EEEEWWWW!

Along the lines of greasy bottles...does anybody ever notice that a lot of bottles from old men look like they picked the earwax outta their ear with it?

Or is it just me?

Yuck.

My 14-year old cat's a$$ is cleaner...
 
:barf:

EEEEWWWW!

Along the lines of greasy bottles...does anybody ever notice that a lot of bottles from old men look like they picked the earwax outta their ear with it?

Or is it just me?

Yuck.

My 14-year old cat's a$$ is cleaner...

Speaking of animals and asses, Little loo, as a veterinarian, what do you think about this video out of Washington titled "Mr. Hands?" 17 states do not consider beastiality illegal, what is up with that?
 
Speaking of animals and asses, Little loo, as a veterinarian, what do you think about this video out of Washington titled "Mr. Hands?" 17 states do not consider beastiality illegal, what is up with that?

1. I'm not a veterinarian.
2. I have not seen the video, so I have no opinion about it.
3. I don't care.

Why are you so interested in beastiality, limp member?
 
Don't lick your patients on their herpes faces.
 
Ew this thread is GROSS! :)
 
Yep...I crossed that line.
 
OK, since we've crossed the line...

Don't offer to confirm that case of unspecified vaginitis, yeast infection, or chlamydia if you can smell it at the counter.
 
OK, since we've crossed the line...

Don't offer to confirm that case of unspecified vaginitis, yeast infection, or chlamydia if you can smell it at the counter.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew
 
Good question. This makes me think twice again. But, isn't the virus is generally transmitted through direct contact with saliva & not through contact with inanimate objects touched by an infected person? So I guess in a way, if they have some sort of secretions on the containers or boxes (but it would depend on amount & how long)... I dunno' though. Anyone want to clarify this? :scared:
 
I want to ask the same question but the other way around.
There is no health background check or vaccines requiered forpharm techs, giving that they do touch pills with their hands and some breathe on them -for the ones wholean over the counter and count loud:p

I always wondered if retail pharmacy should review its sanitary policies. exp, wear gloves, make techs complete a health record, disinfect counters and sterilize ustensils...etc
I haven't heard of someone getting sick from their contaminated medication...or who knows may be we all do.
 
Never, ever touch your face no matter how many times you wash your hands. Make sure you're current on immunizations, especially influenza. That spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol is your friend. Spray everything. I spray and wipe down counters, spatulas, counting trays and my own hands multiple times during the day. Following the hand spray with a little lotion helps with dryness, but the lotion can trap microorganisms (hence the prohibition on touching the face).

This is interesting....I recently read an article about how the extra cleaniness especially of babies is causing us to have a weaker immune system and increases allergies. It also makes germs more resistants to our disinfectants.
So, as a morther I always wondered how much germs shall I allow my kids to "consume"...Jack you can eat from the garbage tonight:)
 
This is interesting....I recently read an article about how the extra cleaniness especially of babies is causing us to have a weaker immune system and increases allergies. It also makes germs more resistants to our disinfectants.
So, as a morther I always wondered how much germs shall I allow my kids to "consume"...Jack you can eat from the garbage tonight:)
lol. I read a book earlier this year called "Parasite Rex," and it made the same point. The author mentioned that in societies that had more parasites (worms, flukes, bacteria, protozoa, etc) there was a reduced incidence of allergies, and societies that in recent decades greatly reduced their parasites also experienced an increase in allergies.

I think it's a matter of balance. While I wouldn't want my child to eat out of the garbage, perhaps little things like doing away with the Clorox wipes and the hand sanitizer and using good ol' soap and water instead are the way to go. I want to be clean, but I have no driving need to kill all bacteria.
 
lol. I read a book earlier this year called "Parasite Rex," and it made the same point. The author mentioned that in societies that had more parasites (worms, flukes, bacteria, protozoa, etc) there was a reduced incidence of allergies, and societies that in recent decades greatly reduced their parasites also experienced an increase in allergies.

I think it's a matter of balance. While I wouldn't want my child to eat out of the garbage, perhaps little things like doing away with the Clorox wipes and the hand sanitizer and using good ol' soap and water instead are the way to go. I want to be clean, but I have no driving need to kill all bacteria.
I agree...I experienced what you are saying as I grew up in a "less clean country" :oops: hard to word that one. I haven't heard of so many allergies until I moved over here. Back home, germs either don't harm you or kill you, there is no middle ground:laugh:
 
I agree...I experienced what you are saying as I grew up in a "less clean country" :oops: hard to word that one. I haven't heard of so many allergies until I moved over here. Back home, germs either don't harm you or kill you, there is no middle ground:laugh:
Me, too. I laugh now whenever I hear the new ExxonMobil commercials where one guy says, "Once I had malaria, and it was a hard time for my family." Seriously. I have had malaria so many times I cannot count. Once I was in a bunk bed with the fever, and I shivered so hard the entire bed shook! And my roommates could hear the bed shaking across the room.

Also, in my high school, we had a well that had algae growing in the water. Didn't smell good.
 
Me, too.

Also, in my high school, we had a well that had algae growing in the water. Didn't smell good.
:) I was going to bring up some of my back home experiences. But I thought others will start thinking that we are one of those:laugh:
 
Another note. Actually, some retail pharmacies usually throw away the older bottles/packages during refills. Like if a customer comes in with their old stuff, I think some pharmacies tend to throw it away and give them a new container. And it's probably quite rare as most people either have automated refills or new prescriptions. So perhaps this wouldn't apply to those pharmacies, eh?

Btw, here's a 20 year old study showing that sometimes HSV can live on inanimate objects up to 72 hours. But that's probably in other factors noted, and the data/research is pretty old. I dunno' still, heh.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...s, Conditions, and Health Topics/Herpes Virus
 
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