Frustrated @ current internship- already- suggestions?

[Apteka]

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Agggg. I know i should get over this, but I honestly don't know what to do.. what is the focus of pharmacy, anyway?

So, on Saturday I start my internship. All good, happy to finally be getting credit (at our school we don't get credit for our intern ours until AFTER our first year is over) for my hours of work, and am looking forward to another interesing day @ my chain-store internship. (name withheld since it's a small world, after all.)

Anyhoo, during one of our slow moments, I get a phone call from a regular customer, an elderly woman, who calls to ask me a few questions.. she is 'just wondering' and says 'you don't have to answer if you don't want to.' She is wondering about a new sleep medication that she saw commercials for on 'the tv almost every night' with a 'butterfly logo'. Since I've been in classes for the past 10 weeks, I have no reference to tv, but I start getting curious, since she seems interested in knowing more about the med but just can't remember the name. She also says she wants to know about the cost of this med, since Ambien doesn't work for her anymore. She also said something about it being a 'non narcotic' and that she thinks there is a butterfly logo on the tablet itself.
I continue listening to her and I tell her that I'll look into it (do a medline search, micromedex, whatever, i am thinking) and I took her phone number down.

After I get off the phone.... the pharmacist I was working with essentially mocked me for what i did, saying 'Oooh, what are you going to do? FIND this medication? how are you going to do that?'. (Very patronizing tone, as if I had been wasting my time for the past three minutes.) I responded, "Yeah, I'll probably look at a few databases to see what's out there since I'm not sure if she is talking about an Rx drug, or maybe some sort of random infomercial for an herbal supplement? I'd rather look into it since it sounds like something she is interested in knowing more about."

So, I came home & do a search for 15 minutes, and realised that the drug in question is Lunesta, the new 'non narcotic' (this is their advertising angle) med to help people with sleeping disorders, with a butterfly logo on their website. Duh. Like it took a freaking rocket scientist to figure that out. Apparently they were heavily marketing during the superbowl and the end of last month, and a lot of people are asking about it now.

I'm just annoyed that the pharmacist in question was SO derisive to me about this, and my concern was more for the patient than for the time I spent doing this research (which was minimal anyway. Do a freaking google search most of the time and you can find the answer.)

Isn't the entire GOAL of being a community pharmacist such that you ADDRESS these types of questions? Or is patient centered care just a load of crap when it comes to being in a rushed and busy environment? (In which case I think I'm in the wrong place.)

What would you do in this case? Thanks for any thoughtful ideas and suggestions! BTW, i realise I might be a little too 'idealistic' as a first year student, so no need to comment on that..

 

[dgroulx]

I think you were right in finding information for the person. The best part of my day is helping people either on the phone or in the store. They are afraid to walk to the counter and ask about an OTC. The techs snap back, "it's on aisle 10 on the left". I go out and ask if they need assistance. They are always grateful and really are looking for recommendations. I'm able to tell them which cough medicine, antacid, laxative, etc. will suit their needs. The techs tell me that our store is too busy to help people. I'm never to busy to help. If there's a line at the out window, I tell them to wait until I've rung everybody out and then I'll go and help them.

Telling someone where to find a product isn't helpful at all. I've had people ask where something is, then find out that they need to dose a small child or an animal and really need help.

I've had meds not covered by insurance. One tech told me, it's prior authorization, just leave it. I phoned the insurance company, found out that it is not covered at all (even with prior auth), got a list of covered drugs, then phoned the physician to get the med changed to something that was covered. It takes a few minutes, but the problem was solved. If the tech kept waiting for prior authorization, it would never have happened.

The pharmacists at my store are nice and helpful, though. If they weren't, I'd phone the intern coordinator and ask to go to a different store. If the pharmacists where you work continues that behaviour, ask to move.

 

[bananaface]

Lunesta doesn't actually have a butterfly imprint, does it?

 

[npage148]

Lunesta doesn't actually have a butterfly imprint, does it?

Nope, just a s191,s192,s193 depending on 1mg-3mg strenght. As far as i can tell, its just a ambien with an extended use indication from the FDA. Ambien/sonata only have a 10 day use indication,so this is what makes lunesta special. Still gaba acting and addictive

 

[Ivorymist]

Agggg. I know i should get over this, but I honestly don't know what to do.. what is the focus of pharmacy, anyway?

So, on Saturday I start my internship. All good, happy to finally be getting credit (at our school we don't get credit for our intern ours until AFTER our first year is over) for my hours of work, and am looking forward to another interesing day @ my chain-store internship. (name withheld since it's a small world, after all.)

Anyhoo, during one of our slow moments, I get a phone call from a regular customer, an elderly woman, who calls to ask me a few questions.. she is 'just wondering' and says 'you don't have to answer if you don't want to.' She is wondering about a new sleep medication that she saw commercials for on 'the tv almost every night' with a 'butterfly logo'. Since I've been in classes for the past 10 weeks, I have no reference to tv, but I start getting curious, since she seems interested in knowing more about the med but just can't remember the name. She also says she wants to know about the cost of this med, since Ambien doesn't work for her anymore. She also said something about it being a 'non narcotic' and that she thinks there is a butterfly logo on the tablet itself.
I continue listening to her and I tell her that I'll look into it (do a medline search, micromedex, whatever, i am thinking) and I took her phone number down.

After I get off the phone.... the pharmacist I was working with essentially mocked me for what i did, saying 'Oooh, what are you going to do? FIND this medication? how are you going to do that?'. (Very patronizing tone, as if I had been wasting my time for the past three minutes.) I responded, "Yeah, I'll probably look at a few databases to see what's out there since I'm not sure if she is talking about an Rx drug, or maybe some sort of random infomercial for an herbal supplement? I'd rather look into it since it sounds like something she is interested in knowing more about."

So, I came home & do a search for 15 minutes, and realised that the drug in question is Lunesta, the new 'non narcotic' (this is their advertising angle) med to help people with sleeping disorders, with a butterfly logo on their website. Duh. Like it took a freaking rocket scientist to figure that out. Apparently they were heavily marketing during the superbowl and the end of last month, and a lot of people are asking about it now.

I'm just annoyed that the pharmacist in question was SO derisive to me about this, and my concern was more for the patient than for the time I spent doing this research (which was minimal anyway. Do a freaking google search most of the time and you can find the answer.)

Isn't the entire GOAL of being a community pharmacist such that you ADDRESS these types of questions? Or is patient centered care just a load of crap when it comes to being in a rushed and busy environment? (In which case I think I'm in the wrong place.)

What would you do in this case? Thanks for any thoughtful ideas and suggestions! BTW, i realise I might be a little too 'idealistic' as a first year student, so no need to comment on that..

Unfortunately there will always be those pharmacists who have no interest in the well being of their patients and will not attempt to do anything beyond the minimum required of their job description. Just don't model yourself after a practitioner like that.

You didn't do anything wrong. I'm sure most pharmacists who are genuinely interested in helping their patients (and expanding their own knowledge) would have done the same thing. It just gets tough to be helpful all the time if the store is too busy. It's always a tug-of-war between optimal patient care and maximum efficiency in a retail environment.

 

[letjin]

My pharmacy is a busy chain store but we never neglect those people trying to get recommendation (over the phone, in store, etc). I think it was just a bad example by your mentor.

 

[Apteka]

Dana, Letjin & Ivorymist:

THANKS for sharing your thoughts... (btw, i later realised that the 'logo' she was talking about was the actual butterfly 'logo' used in the ad campaign- those marketing people are pretty snazzy!) - I really appreciate your opinions- I am learning that through this, I can learn what "not" to do, when I am eventually done with pharmacy school- another example (same day, same pharmacist) is that there was a wheezing 15-month old child with their mom, who was coming in to pick up some albuterol syrup. Computer system tells me that it is an 'refill too soon' and that they need to come back the NEXT DAY. Huh. tell that to the poor child and his asthma! Pharmacist stands by his 'come back tomorrow' schpiel and mom leaves, empty handed, with coughing child in tow. Sad.

I know this is still early in my career so I should get ready for many a situation like this, I suppose...
It's just nice to know that there are fellow pharmacists and pharmacy students who agree 🙂

 

[WVUPharm2007]

Put simply, the pharmacist in question was just being a dick. Keep helping people with drug information questions, it's a valuable community service.