"why is my prescription taking so long?"

[Roxicet]

I read this on livejournal (I'm supposed be studying physiology ), and I thought it was so great it should be shared (I hope she doesn't mind)...

link to livejournal

"Why is my prescription taking so long?

By Laura, Janine, Beth and Alison

1. There are 20 people ahead of you.
2. It takes a long time to count 300 pills- twice.
3. The pharmacist is currently wanted on lines 1, 2 and 3.
4. There’s a doctor on the doctor’s line calling in a prescription.
5. There’s a pharmacist from another store wanting a copy.
6. We need to get a copy from another store.
7. We need to call the doctor because he didn’t write down a dose.
8. We can’t figure out who wrote this prescription. If it is an emergency room doctor, it will be twice as hard to find this out (and possibly impossible!)
9. Upon learning the doctor’s name, we are trying to determine what drug and sig he wrote.
10. An insurance company is not paying for the drug of the person ahead of you and they are irate.
11. The computer is frozen and the printer is jammed.
12. The pharmacist is counseling on prescription and non-prescription products.
13. We are busy explaining to someone where the toilet paper/lettuce is.
14. We are on the phone resolving a problem with Pharmacare or a third party and are on hold for an hour.
15. There is yet another problem with family services, workers comp, Indian affairs or immigration and since no one understands these systems and everyone who works there is incompetent, it will never be solved.
16. Someone in line ahead of you forgot to give us their insurance card and we have to reprocess the prescription.
17. The pharmacist is on the phone to a doctor because he prescribed something that the patient is allergic to or that interacts with their current meds.
18. The pharmacist is giving change to the cashiers at the front.
19. One month of bubble packs has been made but the doctor switched one dose, and the entire thing has to be re-done.
20. The pharmacist is taking a 5 minute break (their only break in 9 hours).
21. Your prescription needs to be compounded and will take extra time.
22. You have no refills. The pharmacist is calling your doctor to get you some more (the 20 people ahead of you also have no refills). It is Friday afternoon and all the clinics have just closed.
23. Your prescription is for Prometrium. Please help me chase the pills as they roll away.
24. Even though you said you’ve been here before, you are not in our computer (all pharmacies in Canada are not linked together). We had to wait for you to come back to get your information and process your prescription.
25. A customer has clogged up the toilet and the pharmacist is dealing with it.
26. A large display of loud toys (ex. Horses, Santa) is impairing the mental function of staff members.
27. A triplicate has been forged and the police are being called.
28. A customer is complaining about the cost of their medication. If this will be a problem for you, save yourself some time and go to Superstore.
29. The man in front of you is demanding Viagra even though he has no refills, and is getting violent.
30. You just dropped it off 10 seconds ago.

I hope your condition is self limiting. If not, good luck! Try going down the street to the magical pharmacy with no waiting and free drugs that you believe exists."

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[s13]

omg dude, that is the funniest thing i've seen in a long time, the sad part is i actually use a lot of those lines to angry customers!! the people at my pharmacy are going to get a kick out of this one...

 

[Glycerin]

I read this on livejournal

Heh. Did you ever get one yet? I saw this the other day and thought it was great.

 

[kwakster928]

HAHAHAHAHA great read! I really needed that! thank you thank you!

 

[OSURxgirl]

The pharmacists where I work get so upset sometimes that they say, "I'm doing it as quickly as possible while still being safe! If I go any faster, I can't guarantee it will be safe!" Sometimes I think people don't even care. They'd be willing to risk their health just to buy them an extra 10 minutes.

 

[bananaface]

Although we would like it to be, what goes on in a pharmacy is not general public knowledge. Educating your patients is key to chaniging their misperceptions and behaviors. You'll make alot of headway with people by giving them a little bit of personal attention and tailoring your answer to their circumstances.

 

[Roxicet]

Heh. Did you ever get one yet? I saw this the other day and thought it was great.

sorry for the late reply...I barely read this...No, I never started a livejournal. I would have to write a novel instead, to explain all the drama that is my life. There's not enough hours in a day; I can barely keep up with each day. Before I know it, yesterday is gone, and tomorrow is already here.

 

[sacrament]

You know, it seems like even if I go to the pharmacy when it's totally dead, nobody in line, no phones ringing, absolutely jack-sh1t going on, and my prescription is only like 12 pills or something, it still takes 30 minutes to get it. I'm sure all those things on your list happen, but there appears to be some underlying, unalterable, intrinsic, inexplicable, maddening delay at the pharmacy that I have yet to see a reasonable excuse for. Especially when I myself have acted as a "pharmacist" on many occasions when I bop on back to the sample cabinet, grab a box of something, and then go and hand it to the patient, in the span of about 30 seconds.

 

[ultracet]

You know, it seems like even if I go to the pharmacy when it's totally dead, nobody in line, no phones ringing, absolutely jack-sh1t going on, and my prescription is only like 12 pills or something, it still takes 30 minutes to get it. I'm sure all those things on your list happen, but there appears to be some underlying, unalterable, intrinsic, inexplicable, maddening delay at the pharmacy that I have yet to see a reasonable excuse for. Especially when I myself have acted as a "pharmacist" on many occasions when I bop on back to the sample cabinet, grab a box of something, and then go and hand it to the patient, in the span of about 30 seconds.

does the pharmacist have to run it through on insurance?

just a thought for a possible explanation b/c when i go into a pharmacy where nothing is going on and have a rx not covered on insurance it takes all of 5 seconds.....

 

[BMBiology]

You know, it seems like even if I go to the pharmacy when it's totally dead, nobody in line, no phones ringing, absolutely jack-sh1t going on, and my prescription is only like 12 pills or something, it still takes 30 minutes to get it. I'm sure all those things on your list happen, but there appears to be some underlying, unalterable, intrinsic, inexplicable, maddening delay at the pharmacy that I have yet to see a reasonable excuse for. Especially when I myself have acted as a "pharmacist" on many occasions when I bop on back to the sample cabinet, grab a box of something, and then go and hand it to the patient, in the span of about 30 seconds.

It is good that you did not have the call the doctor because the medication he prescribed is not or no longer on the formula or is no longer in use.

 

[bananaface]

There are several reasons that 30 minutes could elapse between when you drop off a single prescription and when it is ready. Most likely, other people have dropped off before you and have told the pharmacist they will be returning as soon as their precription is ready. In other words, just because you seem to be the only one physically there, you are not the only "waiter". As a general rule, we fill prescriptions for waiters before we start on phone in refills or physician call-ins. (Unless it's a Walgreens, because they clump it all together, which is pretty ******ed.) The typical steps are to type, bill, count/pour/label, perform a drug utilization review (DUR), and check off your prescription. Delays can pop up at any stage. It's nothing like just grabbing a sample off of a shelf.

BTW, does anyone check for drug interactions, etc when samples are given out through the office you are working at? I am curious because I don't see the prescribers up here doing a good job with it. I am also worried when people with multiple presribers get samples, because often the office giving them out does not have the patient's full presciption profile and medical history.

 

[2badr]

Uhm, just because there is nobody in line doesn't mean the pharmacy isn't busy.

 

[Mr_Ritim]

Everything on there is sooo true. The other day some dumb guy drops his prescription off in the drive thru and circles around and asks if its ready yet

 

[jboogie]

You know, it seems like even if I go to the pharmacy when it's totally dead, nobody in line, no phones ringing, absolutely jack-sh1t going on, and my prescription is only like 12 pills or something, it still takes 30 minutes to get it. I'm sure all those things on your list happen, but there appears to be some underlying, unalterable, intrinsic, inexplicable, maddening delay at the pharmacy that I have yet to see a reasonable excuse for. Especially when I myself have acted as a "pharmacist" on many occasions when I bop on back to the sample cabinet, grab a box of something, and then go and hand it to the patient, in the span of about 30 seconds.

Everyone is exactly right. People don't realize that finding a bottle and counting the pills is about 5% of the task. I work at an extremely slow retail pharmacy, and people are amazed that it takes 30 minutes to fill. There may be nothing waiting in the queue, but it still takes time. If the customer is new, then getting profile and 3rd party in takes at least a couple of minutes. Then to get it approved is another wizardly feat. Just the other day, I was working with a floater RPh that I hadn't worked with before. I was taking down a script off of the voice mail for the RPh to review and I look over and he is in the middle of a dance. Not just a little one, but a full blown around the desk dance. I started laughing and said "The 3rd party dance, I'd know that anywhere!" It was great.

I think it might get faster when pharmacies start having customers enter in their own info (some are trying this out). Then some sort of universal code/process/regulations for Insurance card set up and requirements may get better.