Doctor and Transfer calls ... where they talk super fast

[pharmkj]

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So I have to admit I am not an audio/listener person. I am more of a visual person, which sucks for me as a pharmacist. So for me when I get doctor calls for refills/new scripts and the nurse talks super fast, its so hard for me to translate what I hear onto paper.

Same thing goes when I get a call for a copy/transfer and the pharmacist and they too spits out info super fast. I ask them to slow down cause they just read whats on their screen super fast and I guess expect me to write as quickly as they are talking... Whenever I ask them to slow down and they ask me if Im an intern (trust me Im not that slow, but i Just want to make sure I get all the fancy jazz like origninal fill, last fill, originial refill etc etc).

seriously when I ask the nurse/pharmacist to spell the patients last name, S and F sound the same, P and T sound the same, and D, B,V sound the sound.

Whenever i ask people to spell out the names, these people get upset because Im asking them spell the patient's names out. But seriously in my area where we have mostly spanish speaking patients, their names sound all the same, but spelt slightly different by one letter, and I rather have the right spelling of the name so that we can go and fill the script instead of adding it into the "new patient/need more info" script file.

 

[nnguyenc]

You Shut Your Mouth When You're Talking To Me!

 

[Dr Wario]

I believe the entire idea of phoning in prescriptions is completely archaic and made obsolete by modern technology. Why the hell does this practice still continue? It does nothing but waste my time (you do not pay a scribe $60/hr, and think of all the liability issues that arise from this? Imagine a nurse is trying to call in a rx for hydroxizine but instead says hydralizine and that is what you transcribe. The patient takes the drug and their bp crashes and for some reason they die. Who is the person that is going to be blamed? The Dr.'s receptionist/nurse/janitor who called in the rx or is it going to be the pharmacist who took it?

Imagine the same situation occurs with an eprescribed system. The patient is still dead by you have the drug the Dr. put in black and white and all blame is off you. Maybe APhA can get off their useless asses and do something about this.

 

[Smilescali]

I believe the entire idea of phoning in prescriptions is completely archaic and made obsolete by modern technology. Why the hell does this practice still continue? It does nothing but waste my time (you do not pay a scribe $60/hr, and think of all the liability issues that arise from this? Imagine a nurse is trying to call in a rx for hydroxizine but instead says hydralizine and that is what you transcribe. The patient takes the drug and their bp crashes and for some reason they die. Who is the person that is going to be blamed? The Dr.'s receptionist/nurse/janitor who called in the rx or is it going to be the pharmacist who took it?

Imagine the same situation occurs with an eprescribed system. The patient is still dead by you have the drug the Dr. put in black and white and all blame is off you. Maybe APhA can get off their useless asses and do something about this.

Yes, I agree! I feel that phoned in Rxs should be banned...so many issues. God knows who can call in a RX without any training... my latest snaffoo was just yesterday when the Drs. agent could not read/ pronounce generic Augmentin and decided to shorten it to Amoxicillin (all that she could pronounce) luckily I could sense the confusion and hesitation in her voice and asked to speak to the MD for clarification.... sure enough he wrote it for Augmentin.. or the Doxy 100 Qid or the Levo 600 bid, or the TAC Apply to mouth QID when it was suppose to be for the feet...or the.... on and on..👎

 

[genesis09]

I just had a call in for acyclovir 500mg.

 

[DAW2]

I like to repeat what they say anyway. Sometimes I can't understand their accents...but at least for patient names for the most part if you've worked at the store long enough you can make that out. and the dob confirms it

 

[Sparda29]

When they talk super fast, I just interrupt and tell them to slow down.

 

[Dr Wario]

I like to repeat what they say anyway. Sometimes I can't understand their accents...but at least for patient names for the most part if you've worked at the store long enough you can make that out. and the dob confirms it

Repeating is fine, except when you have 50 rx/day on VM.

 

[CUpharmD2013]

Repeating is fine, except when you have 50 rx/day on VM.

You can always repeat, rewind, fast forward a voice mail. But you're right, if the person makes a mistake, leaves important information out, is hard to understand, or hard to hear then you have to call the doctor's office. Such a pain.

 

[lauradiddle]

I'm an inpatient hospital tech. This happens all the time:

Me: (blah blah) satellite. This is Laura.
MD: Yes, this is askdfaskjdhf. I was paged.
Me: Um, ok, just one second... (puts on hold). Did somebody page Dr. asdfhasjkd?

 

[confettiflyer]

I'm an inpatient hospital tech. This happens all the time:

Me: (blah blah) satellite. This is Laura.
MD: Yes, this is askdfaskjdhf. I was paged.
Me: Um, ok, just one second... (puts on hold). Did somebody page Dr. asdfhasjkd?

...was there a 2nd half of this post that didn't make it..?

 

[lauradiddle]

...was there a 2nd half of this post that didn't make it..?

No, that was it. Just making the point that the Dr. usually talks so fast I never hear their name.

 

[Old Timer]

When they talk super fast, I just interrupt and tell them to slow down.

When they sat the name of the patient that fast I just say, I'm still on the insert first name here.

You know if you talk a little faster maybe I can give the patient the wrong thing....

 

[bananaface]

I would rather have a person on the line than a voicemail. The person can answer questions without me having to sit on hold.

 

[pinipig523]

I believe the entire idea of phoning in prescriptions is completely archaic and made obsolete by modern technology. Why the hell does this practice still continue? It does nothing but waste my time (you do not pay a scribe $60/hr, and think of all the liability issues that arise from this? Imagine a nurse is trying to call in a rx for hydroxizine but instead says hydralizine and that is what you transcribe. The patient takes the drug and their bp crashes and for some reason they die. Who is the person that is going to be blamed? The Dr.'s receptionist/nurse/janitor who called in the rx or is it going to be the pharmacist who took it?

Imagine the same situation occurs with an eprescribed system. The patient is still dead by you have the drug the Dr. put in black and white and all blame is off you. Maybe APhA can get off their useless asses and do something about this.

Phone RX are convenient for me because I can call in prescriptions from anywhere and I don't need anyone else or anything else (i.e. a computer) to do so.

What needs to be done is to somehow figure out a way to only have the MD call it in and not the janitor. Some pre-prescribing paperwork should be filled out between the MD and the pharmacy so as to be able to verify the MD is actually on the phone. Secret questions, info, and all that stuff.

I like phone RXs.

 

[Dr Wario]

Phone RX are convenient for me because I can call in prescriptions from anywhere and I don't need anyone else or anything else (i.e. a computer) to do so.

What needs to be done is to somehow figure out a way to only have the MD call it in and not the janitor. Some pre-prescribing paperwork should be filled out between the MD and the pharmacy so as to be able to verify the MD is actually on the phone. Secret questions, info, and all that stuff.

I like phone RXs.

A PDA with escript functionality works great for this purpose and is 1000x more secure without trying to use some cultest password system. Yeah, let only Dr's call in rxes...let's take a vote here of pharmacists, which % of your phoned in rxes are called in by an actual doctor?

My vote is 2%

I'm not saying that phoned in rxes never had a place, but with modern technology and expanding heathcare use, there is no reason for this practice to continue.

 

[347445]

If I'm not sure what they said, I always stop them if it's a live person call. Everyone knows that someone cannot write as fast as someone can speak. It is so important to get the right medication to the right person with the right directions that I don't care how many times that I have to stop them. And, if they get smart with me, then I just chalk it up to their ignorance and incompetence because if they are in the healthcare industry for the right reason, then they should know better than to see how fast they can talk and then get an attitude about it when they are asked to clarify. Oftentimes, I repeat the prescription back to them and usually I get a good response; if not, then according to how I feel that day, they may just get a little advice from me. If I or my tech dictate from the VRU and I am not 100% certain of the RX in any terms, then the doctor's office gets a call back and it is not filled no matter what unless I get it clarified. Pharmacists need to stop feeling inferior and stand up for themselves. We have a 5 or 6 year degree, extensive experience, and knowledge that they do not have (unless it is a physician and even they don't have our knowledge base). Having that said, we have nothing to apologize for when we have the best interest of the patient at heart and our license is on the line.

 

[finechemist]

So did you fill it

 

[pinipig523]

If I'm not sure what they said, I always stop them if it's a live person call. Everyone knows that someone cannot write as fast as someone can speak. It is so important to get the right medication to the right person with the right directions that I don't care how many times that I have to stop them. And, if they get smart with me, then I just chalk it up to their ignorance and incompetence because if they are in the healthcare industry for the right reason, then they should know better than to see how fast they can talk and then get an attitude about it when they are asked to clarify. Oftentimes, I repeat the prescription back to them and usually I get a good response; if not, then according to how I feel that day, they may just get a little advice from me. If I or my tech dictate from the VRU and I am not 100% certain of the RX in any terms, then the doctor's office gets a call back and it is not filled no matter what unless I get it clarified. Pharmacists need to stop feeling inferior and stand up for themselves. We have a 5 or 6 year degree, extensive experience, and knowledge that they do not have (unless it is a physician and even they don't have our knowledge base). Having that said, we have nothing to apologize for when we have the best interest of the patient at heart and our license is on the line.

I think it's best that we all work together rather than have one feel superior than another. Or inferior.