Pharmacy technician fun

[Schmetterling]

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As a certified technician, this has got to be one of the best jobs for a pre-med or pre-pharm - good pay even outside a hospital and so much to learn and usually good patient interaction. However, I am appalled at how some people can be when they come to a pharmacy.
Ex.
'I'm here to pick up a prescription' - - check computer - 'Sorry sir nothing is ready' - 'What mean, the doctor called it in!!!' - followed by an extended rant.
Possible solutions: 1) you're at the wrong pharmacy 2) the doctor meant that the prescription would be called in SOON 3) or our bad, we havent checked all voicemails yet

But in all these impatient people seem to think the pharmacy is trying to ruin their lives. on more than one occasion a day do we get cussed and/or screamed at for things beyond our control.

Sorry for ranting, but I really doubt patients are this way to the doctors writing their prescriptions.

 

[Schmetterling]

Yeah, I guess that's true. Still, I can't imagine the angry patients getting more c3 refills than the nice ones. Work was interesting today and I was curious if anyone else had the same experiences. Hearing from the med student perspective would be good too...

 

[Wackie]

Sorry for ranting, but I really doubt patients are this way to the doctors writing their prescriptions.

Ha ha!


How about, "What? What! You're not going to give me Dilaudid! You POS! You sack of s--! I want my lawyer! I'm going to sue your a--!" *spits and swings*

 

[Schmetterling]

O well, here's the whole story:
person drops off the prescription. I tell him it will take an hour to complete. He replies it better be done in 45 minutes or he will no longer come to our pharmacy. (We're super best friends now.) Now have full permission to hand the script back and wish him the best of luck. *now fun for me* turns out anyway that the prescription is over 6 months old and a c4. legally we and nobody else can dispense it either (the law). I get to break the news when comes back, an event I look forward to (not sure why - I can't be mean, cold maybe, but not mean). anywho, he comes back, I explain we cant give him anything. He demands back his equivalent to wallpaper and demands that we refill the same thing from his file, which has no record of that drug at all. I explain this to him twice, both times from he interprets that I'm calling him a liar. I don't think he's lying - I just think he's wrong - just didn't say that to him directly. he comes back two hours and process repeats with our pharmacists, who can't do anything either. in the end not a bad day.🙂

 

[Schmetterling]

thanks Wackie! but what about before you tell them no Dilaudid?

 

[Raihan Mirza]

how much is the pay for a pharmacy technician?

 

[Wackie]

thanks Wackie! but what about before you tell them no Dilaudid?

They come in spitting and swinging without provocation as well.

Still, I'd hate your job. It's much like retail. 😀

 

[proclivity]

O well, here's the whole story:
person drops off the prescription. I tell him it will take an hour to complete. He replies it better be done in 45 minutes or he will no longer come to our pharmacy. (We're super best friends now.) Now have full permission to hand the script back and wish him the best of luck. *now fun for me* turns out anyway that the prescription is over 6 months old and a c4. legally we and nobody else can dispense it either (the law). I get to break the news when comes back, an event I look forward to (not sure why - I can't be mean, cold maybe, but not mean). anywho, he comes back, I explain we cant give him anything. He demands back his equivalent to wallpaper and demands that we refill the same thing from his file, which has no record of that drug at all. I explain this to him twice, both times from he interprets that I'm calling him a liar. I don't think he's lying - I just think he's wrong - just didn't say that to him directly. he comes back two hours and process repeats with our pharmacists, who can't do anything either. in the end not a bad day.🙂

Come on, put the icing on the cake and tell us all that it was a script for 180 oxycodone!!!

 

[DickyV]

how much is the pay for a pharmacy technician?

Not enough for what you have to put up with!

 

[emttim]

Sounds like even EMTs and medics get more respect than pharmacy techs...****ty. Any chance of getting on as a pharmacy tech at a hospital? They barely ever deal with the public, if at all....or at least at the pharmacy I volunteered it at the hospital in the city I used to live in, they never did. 😛 just chilled in the back, listened to music and titrated away.

 

[StringTheorist]

if you're certified, you can be paid up to almost $20/hr based on where you live. I, however, was not certified and got a measly $8 an hour in Florida at Albertson's Pharmacy. But I loved being a tech. Except the old people. they really peeved me off.

here's my story for the thread:
so its hurricane season and the news said something about everyone having a months supply of meds before the hurricane comes. so now it is THE DAY OF the hurricane's arrival, and there is a line down the store of people who waited last minute... and not only that, they want to get a 30-day supply of meds that they had filled A WEEK AGO. We have to turn a bunch away because their insurance wont cover it so soon and instead of paying out of pocket, they would rather go without...
so this woman comes up to the window and goes "i need my pain meds, i am hurting!" and we tell her there is a line we have to serve and we will do it ASAP, but we cant put her ahead of thsoe who have been waiting. well, her husband comes up to us 2 minutes later and yells at the pharmacist, and he tells him he cant rush a prescription. the husband then proceeds to damn our pharmacy to hell in front of the line of customers and bangs on our windows with his fist (makes me thankful they are there in the first place)...
god. people.

 

[Schmetterling]

Hospitals want really experienced techs, so I hope that within a year or so I can work at one. The pay for a certified tech is good (I make more than 10 an hour), and many pharmacies will actually pay for its techs to get certified (the exam is maybe $120). its mainly a lot of math but there are some questions involving the law and drug uses and types. (ie what is type of drug is cymbalta). and honestly, 95% of the patients are great, then remaining 5 % are just irate with insurance companies and copay differences or want their vicodin faster.

 

[DickyV]

I think I'm a bit jealous - I've never even seen a pharmacy that had a barrier to separate the staff from irate patients.

I always thought the worst time of year was between Christmas and New Year's. Everyone's copays go up come January 1st, so everyone wants refills before that happens (whether possible or not).

 

[DangerBob]

I was a pharmacy tech for a major teaching hospital this past year. For pre-meds I'm pretty sure in-patient is the better bet than outpatient. I got to deliver drugs to all the nursing units and become friends with everyone, including nurses, docs, transporters, etc. If you're out around the hospital you can see some procedures and interact with patients. You gain a lot of ammunition for interviews and gain an intuitive sense of how the health care system fits together. Well, I also got to make IVs and mess with med robots. The pay wasn't the greatest, but better than some (11.80 before PTCB certificaton, 12.40 after). An advantage is that you get to wear scrubs to work. I worked here when I was applying to med school this year and got into the ACP program at Tulane SOM for this fall.

I recommend in-patient pharmacy tech for premeds. Message me if you have any questions.