Good Retail Experiences?

[CaliCPhT]

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We see so many posts about negative pharmacy experiences as they tend to stand out more than the positive ones. How about sharing some experiences that you've had where you felt good about being in retail. While it's been quite a while since I've worked retail, I'll start.

I specifically remember one patient that did not speak English as a first language. He was always very nice to me and I was always very nice back to him, though I was nice to all the customers for the most part. He came in one day and was quite upset about something. I was able to help him resolve the issue and he was most grateful. He even told me I was the best doctor he'd ever met. (the last part was not quite accurate, as I was barely a tech at the time, but it still made me feel good about the day).

 

[evilolive]

I once asked a retail pharmacist if she was happy with her job and life. She was.

 

[no-see-um]

Most of my good retail experiences didn't even need a 'thank you', I just felt good about what I was doing for the patient even if he/she didn't fully understand the work that was going on behind the scenes.

An old man was discharged from a hospital out of the state and the hospital did crappy (or maybe even no?) discharge counseling for this patient. They faxed us orders (not even prescriptions) for all the meds they put him on in the hospital, and the patient had no idea what he should be on, so after calling this city hospital and being transferred to every extension imaginable, I also called his primary and specialty doctors, etc, and we worked out a plan for the guy in light of his recent hospitalization. I spent my break working on this. He didn't seem that grateful, but who cares, why should he be! But I felt good because I felt like I was in the 'loop' of health care, so to speak. 😀

Now for the worst experience: A physician resident at a local hospital comes by to pick up a medication that was phoned in for her by her doctor. She comes through the drive-through 5 minutes later demanding the medicine from the Technician (naming the medication). She says "I'm a Doctor, is that how you treat colleagues?!". Then, we hurry to fill it and the dose and interactions are all checked and there was a very mild interaction (only at much higher doses) with another of her medications- but to be on the safe side, we even called her doctor and she said it's harmless.

The technician, then, brings it over to the drive-through and I follow over and this medical resident is in her car screaming, "I JUST CHECKED THIS MEDICATIONS ON MY PDA AND IT INTERACTS WITH THE MEDICINE I GOT YESTERDAY. WHAT KIND OF PHARMACISTS ARE YOU?! YOU'RE SO LUCKY I WON'T TAKE IT SINCE IT WOULD BE YOUR ASSES!!!". I was taken aback by the turn of events (how she went from demanding this medicine in 5 minutes, to performing a substandard check of drug interactions on her PDA and not understanding what the 'interaction' even meant and that we checked for interactions, too, etc...).

In a mild voice, I told her the nature of the interaction and that her doctor was already called and says the medicine, 'should be taken'. Then, she was like, "KEEP IT! I'm going to a REAL Pharmacy!!". I then pointed to across the street (at our competition), and said, "That's a real pharmacy across the street! Have a nice day" 😉 I'm sure they will appreciate her business as much as we did...

Oh well... In closing, bad experiences could be considered fun, too!

 

[confettiflyer]

Good experience today: we were making fun of a few patients that were stupid, mean, and impatient. Made me feel a lot better.

 

[dgroulx]

There is usually not a day that goes by where I've made a difference.

I have just been assigned to a new store. There was a chronic pain patient and as I was viewing her profile I felt that I should call her. I asked her how much of each med she was taking after explaining that I was concerned about the amount of acetaminophen she was taking. I calculated that she was taking over 6,000mg per day. I advised her to switch to straigh oxycodone instead of oxy/APAP. The Vicodin ES had enough APAP by itself, she doesn't need the extra from the Percocet. There are two MDs, so they probably don't know. I will be faxing them when I get in on Tuesday.

The patient told me that she has her LFTs done every 3 months and they were good. She thanked me for phoning and said that no one had ever done that before.

 

[PharmDstudent]

I'm working a 9 hour shift today, so I'll try to take notes. Things usually slip my mind when I clock out.

 

[jawnly211]

it takes a lot of practice

but i have learned to "feed" off patients' anger.........it actually makes me laugh

like some lady who was so lazy she pulled thru the drive-thru.........what a surprise huh?..........well, she was in the 2nd lane and i put the medications in the basket and sent it to her...........a minute later i hear the drive-thru bell ringing..........it was her..........she called to complain that the medication fell out of the basket..........

i said "OK"...........and she had to actually open the door to pick up the medication off the ground...........in the meantime, mad dogging me the whole time...........i just smiled and asked "is there anything elsei can help you with"............she spewed off some obscenities..........kindly told her to have a spectacular day and to come back real soon

 

[PharmDstudent]

Nothing great happened today. It was a typical Saturday. We have lots of "foreign" customers which reminds me of this young, German couple that I had helped at my last job. It isn't pharmacy related, per say, but I still helped them.

The couple wanted to find a hotel for the weekend, so I called a few places for them. Everything was too expensive, because this area attracts a lot of tourists, so I pulled out a map, and I started to mark the areas that I felt were both safe and economical for a young couple. They were very thankful. We talked a little bit in German but mostly in English. Germans love to practice English.

It always seems like the profound things that pharmacists do for their customers are never strictly related to pharmacy. I've called people's insurance companies for them, dug for medications that were at the bottom of the last tote of the order that just came in five minutes ago, recommended compounding and DME companies, returned lost items such as keys and cell phones, held that old lady's hand who couldn't stand up when we went to look for an OTC product, and showed people how to use their glucose testing equipment, among countless other things.

The little things can really make a big difference.

 

[Hels2007]

I have a few every time... I have a lot more good ones than bad ones, I just forget both by the next day.

 

[KARM12]

I work retail and I do not mind it at all. Most patients are very nice and respectful. There are always a few jerks in the mix, but that isn't the norm. At least at my pharmacy. I work with a young yuppie population and work with a lot of pregnant women and their kids. Lot of opportunity to answer questions and make a difference.