Pill Identification over the phone

Started by PharmDminus
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PharmDminus

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do you take the time to help patients identify pills over the phone? Having worked overnights for a number of years, it seems as though half the time i help someone identify a pill it winds up being a controlled substance and then they hang up. They were using me to identify illegally purchased rx medications, so i stopped this practice altogether and say “sorry thats a liability I cant take over the phone, if you bring the pills into the pharmacy id be happy to help you.”. Anyone else in the same boat?
 
RxPreceptor said:
Takes like a few seconds...I don't do many controls (often regulars cleaning out rooms and what not). You do realize there are many resources people can use (besides yourself) to identify meds?
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yah i usually tell them there is an identifier on drugs.com
 
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I tell them to look it up online or call the poison control center to identify it. Or tell them the system is down and call another pharmacy. The only time I identify pills would be for police officers who bring them. Or if it's a regular patient who gets all their meds filled there and got them mixed up in their pill calendar box..
 
I used to believe the old story that the parents found a pill in child's backpack/room/etc and wanted it identified, after the 10th time I wasn't quite so gullible. Luckily I have not gotten this call in my current store for over 6 months so is a non-issue for me now.
 
The thought now had occured to me. I never thought about it.
But recent identifications have been for medication such as blood pressure meds for some geriatric patients
 
PharmDminus said:
do you take the time to help patients identify pills over the phone? Having worked overnights for a number of years, it seems as though half the time i help someone identify a pill it winds up being a controlled substance and then they hang up. They were using me to identify illegally purchased rx medications, so i stopped this practice altogether and say “sorry thats a liability I cant take over the phone, if you bring the pills into the pharmacy id be happy to help you.”. Anyone else in the same boat?
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For purple I know, I will.

If they sound young, not in our system, and it's a pain med, I'll say "that doesn't show up in any of our systems."
 
I get this a few times. Once a guy came in asking and he said his "friend" gave it to him for pain. I glanced at it while putting in the imprint as he was telling his sob story. It turned out to be Bactrim.. I ended up telling him our system was down. 😀

In other instances I do the same as above poster and refer them to poison control line.
 
For me to type Endo 602 into Google is easier than trying to explain why I won't identify over the phone. I just identify it and move on.
 
I probably would...but on the other hand, if they aren't a patient of your pharmacy and you are busy, I can see telling them to call poison control or their regular pharmacy.
 
Dr Wario said:
I used to believe the old story that the parents found a pill in child's backpack/room/etc and wanted it identified, after the 10th time I wasn't quite so gullible. Luckily I have not gotten this call in my current store for over 6 months so is a non-issue for me now.
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I got the "I found a pill in my kid's room" question twice. The first time, it was OTC ibuprofen, and the second time, the father started to cry when I told him it was OxyContin, and asked me for the phone number of the nearest drug treatment center. I referred him to Narcotics Anonymous. 🙁
 
I routinely ask the question: "What is your poison control center number in the US?" in the relevant exam. I've pushed for this to be on NAPLEX as I consider the matter a fundamental one for pharmacists to know (as well as what a poison control center is for). It's 1-800-222-1222. You are probably doing a disservice by handling this yourself over the phone. At least get the patient to bring it in if they can't be bothered to call poison control.
 
lord999 said:
You are probably doing a disservice by handling this yourself over the phone. At least get the patient to bring it in if they can't be bothered to call poison control.
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Eh, not always. Alot of times it's elderly people who've spilled their pill box and don't know how to put their meds back, because they have no idea what they are.
 
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lord999 said:
I routinely ask the question: "What is your poison control center number in the US?" in the relevant exam. I've pushed for this to be on NAPLEX as I consider the matter a fundamental one for pharmacists to know (as well as what a poison control center is for). It's 1-800-222-1222. You are probably doing a disservice by handling this yourself over the phone. At least get the patient to bring it in if they can't be bothered to call poison control.
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one eight hundered two two two one two two two, if you think you might be poisoned and you don't know what to do, call one eight hundred two two two one two two two

Man doing a rotation at poison control was awesome, if anyone gets a chance to I highly suggest you take it.
 
BidingMyTime said:
Eh, not always. Alot of times it's elderly people who've spilled their pill box and don't know how to put their meds back, because they have no idea what they are.
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I agree in part and if I trust the patient, sure, but otherwise, I’d still like to see them to help sort them (and to know with my own eyes since I actually lack trust on auditory descriptions). I’ve dealt with too many incident reports that would have been easily solved if someone saw the mess.
 
rph3664 said:
I got the "I found a pill in my kid's room" question twice. The first time, it was OTC ibuprofen, and the second time, the father started to cry when I told him it was OxyContin, and asked me for the phone number of the nearest drug treatment center. I referred him to Narcotics Anonymous. 🙁
Click to expand...

Brand name?

DAMB
 
If you ask them to verify their name and DOB they usually hang up. I just explain that I need to pull their profile to see that they're on and identify which of their meds it is and tell them to call their pharmacy when they say they got it elsewhere...
 
I've had people call several times when we changed the NDC on a refill, but never had someone call asking about narcs
 
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