Walgreens with no voicemail?

[PikminOC]

I called florida pharmacy after hours. They didn’t have a voice mail so I could leave the information about my patient. The recording told me to call their 24 hours walgreens instead.
Is this common? I have never seen this before.

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[BidingMyTime]

Weird, but I guess a lot of weird things happen in FL? I don't think I've ever called any pharmacy (at least in the past 20 years) of any type, that didn't have an afterhour voice mail.

 

[Carol is Alpha]

Wags in Florida is a freak show. It's really in its own pyschodrama of a universe down there. It's where they first started Power I believe. I think the Florida market was first then Arizona. Unmitigated disaster.

 

[PikminOC]

I thought maybe with all the problems they had there, they wanted to talk to the doctor directly instead of voicemail

 

[maria1oh]

I also once called a walgreens in florida and tried pressing 1 and then 0 to connect to the pharmacy but it wasn't working. I had to verbally speak my command to the robot operator. Very frustrating trying to get a copy.

 

[maria1oh]

possible it was some temporary glitch in the system so voice mail wasn't working that night. I have worked night shifts at cvs where the phone system goes down for temporary maintenance. One time it was displaying caller ID which I know was not the norm. Then later in the night the caller ID stopped working and has never worked since.

 

[PikminOC]

I also once called a walgreens in florida and tried pressing 1 and then 0 to connect to the pharmacy but it wasn't working. I had to verbally speak my command to the robot operator. Very frustrating trying to get a copy.

These verbal ones are super annoying

 

[doublehh03]

Why don't all prescribers electronically send scripts? It's still baffling to me.

 

[PikminOC]

I have paper charts. No emr.

 

[FarmD711]

I have paper charts. No emr.

By calling in all your prescriptions you are inviting errors. Verbal rxs are terrible.


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[maria1oh]

I have seen plenty of errors via electronic prescribing so it is not error free itself.

 

[PikminOC]

I don't call them all in. I usually write them out. And lots of emr have limitations controlled subs, states, etc. I was calling another state

 

[FarmD711]

I have seen plenty of errors via electronic prescribing so it is not error free itself.

The fact that errors are made on electronic rxs does not negate the fact that errors are far more likely with verbal rxs. And the fact that there is zero paper trail and the pharmacy will end up thrown under the bus if an error happens with a verbal order.

There is zero need for most verbal orders I get to have been delivered verbally and no reason they couldn't be written faxed or escribed other than convenience for the prescriber. I prefer patient safety to prescriber/office staff convenience.


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[PikminOC]

I spoke to the pharmacist directly at the other walgreens.
Pharmacist can call me anytime for clarification. I answer my own phone.

 

[PikminOC]

I think we all prefer patient safety. We are on the same team.

 

[FarmD711]

I spoke to the pharmacist directly at the other walgreens.
Pharmacist can call me anytime for clarification. I answer my own phone.

You are the vast minority.

Today I had a "nurse" call in a prescription for sodium chloride inhalation solution. My intern confirmed "that's nebulizer solution, correct?"

Patient called after picking up the prescription. How do I rinse my wound with these little bubbles?

Irrigation and inhalation sound the same over a crappy phone connection. "Nurse" apparently didn't know what a nebulizer was or just yessed us to death to get off the phone. There is no paper trail except he said she said as to what was said on the phone call.


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[PikminOC]

I practice the way I practice. It's all i do. I do understand pharmacy frustrations. It's why I post here.

 

[bradleyyoung04]

Could be a temp measure, especially for scheduled maintenance. I see where you're coming from though, I've been through that process and it's very annoying

 

[wagrxm2000]

So now mister psychmd not only prescribes based on coupons drug reps give him but he's so lazy he prefers leaving messages to sending faxes/escribe/hard copy.

 

[Dr Wario]

I have found out the secret to the real reason so many scripts get called in instead of escripted, faxed or written even when you know the office has the capability. When a patient calls the office for a minor issue (like they ran out of medication or have a runny nose) the doctor gives general instructions to the office staff on what to do (for refills how long since last visit/what kind of med etc) and the doctor is not in the office (probably playing golf) so to get around the legal restrictions on making a doctor sign off on a paper/fax script or put in their credentials on electronic, the MA/nurse/janitor simply calls in the script to the pharmacy and absolutely zero contact with the doctor is needed.

It is also my opinion that if a doctor cannot use an electronic emr they should only send scripts to a pharmacy that also still hand-writes all rx labels.

 

[radio frequency]

I have found out the secret to the real reason so many scripts get called in instead of escripted, faxed or written even when you know the office has the capability. When a patient calls the office for a minor issue (like they ran out of medication or have a runny nose) the doctor gives general instructions to the office staff on what to do (for refills how long since last visit/what kind of med etc) and the doctor is not in the office (probably playing golf) so to get around the legal restrictions on making a doctor sign off on a paper/fax script or put in their credentials on electronic, the MA/nurse/janitor simply calls in the script to the pharmacy and absolutely zero contact with the doctor is needed.

It is also my opinion that if a doctor cannot use an electronic emr they should only send scripts to a pharmacy that also still hand-writes all rx labels.

This is true. The other times we get call ins are from employees of the major health system in town calling scripts in for themselves or families. It's frowned upon by the health system, so they make some feeble attempts to minimize their paper trail by doing phone in verbal orders.

I had an out of state RN call in about six prescription orders on my voicemail recently and they spoke very fast and unclearly. Because I have no way to pause, rewind, or fast forward the recording and there was too much information to safely take down in a timely manner, I just called back and told them this was an unsafe practice and if they'd like to send us the prescriptions via fax or escript, we'd be happy to process them. It took calling the patient to get a phone number though -- why do these folks always neglect to leave an area code?!

 

[PikminOC]

This is true. The other times we get call ins are from employees of the major health system in town calling scripts in for themselves or families. It's frowned upon by the health system, so they make some feeble attempts to minimize their paper trail by doing phone in verbal orders.

I had an out of state RN call in about six prescription orders on my voicemail recently and they spoke very fast and unclearly. Because I have no way to pause, rewind, or fast forward the recording and there was too much information to safely take down in a timely manner, I just called back and told them this was an unsafe practice and if they'd like to send us the prescriptions via fax or escript, we'd be happy to process them. It took calling the patient to get a phone number though -- why do these folks always neglect to leave an area code?!

I leave my full phone number. I read the prescriptions twice including pt name and date of birth twice

 

[radio frequency]

I leave my full phone number. I read the prescriptions twice including pt name and date of birth twice

And hopefully spell out slowly the difficult patient names. This is so rare and so appreciated; I can't even tell you how happy I am to receive a thorough, complete, and easy to understand voicemail. Repeating names (doctor and patient) and phone numbers is also super helpful!

The biggest issues we have with incomplete prescription information usually come from out of town offices, who assume everyone in the country knows who they are so they don't leave enough information. Like missing spelling, phone numbers and DEA or NPI, etc...

 

[SmallCapPharma]

And hopefully spell out slowly the difficult patient names. This is so rare and so appreciated; I can't even tell you how happy I am to receive a thorough, complete, and easy to understand voicemail. Repeating names (doctor and patient) and phone numbers is also super helpful!

The biggest issues we have with incomplete prescription information usually come from out of town offices, who assume everyone in the country knows who they are so they don't leave enough information. Like missing spelling, phone numbers and DEA or NPI, etc...

Spelling out the Doctors name is very helpful too. The other day a voicemail was left with a very long and uncommon doctors last name without spelling it. Now I have to play detective.
Call the office and get NPI, but they are on lunch. Look in patients profile, doctor not there. Now try to google the office number and find the doc.
Such a waste of time.


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[PikminOC]

I have an easy name. I spell it too

 

[PikminOC]

Thank you all for letting me know some of your frustrations as well. I am on a doctor board as well and others don't realize the pressures you are under

 

[ancienbon]

I received a c3 today dated on 05/13 with no Dea,no Npi, just a signature . Had to call the hospital to get a name and Dea. Such a waste of time

 

[PikminOC]

I have tamper free prescriptions that have all my info on it. Sounds weird you got a script like that

 

[FarmD711]

I have tamper free prescriptions that have all my info on it. Sounds weird you got a script like that

It's not weird. This happens all the time.


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[FarmD711]

I received a c3 today dated on 05/13 with no Dea,no Npi, just a signature . Had to call the hospital to get a name and Dea. Such a waste of time

And then you call the hospital and they have no idea and say they can't connect you to anyone that can help unless you can tell them who the prescriber is ...


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[catalyzt]

I have tamper free prescriptions that have all my info on it. Sounds weird you got a script like that

It's likely because the prescription came from a hospital and not a private practice. I see these all the time written by hospitalists at my local hospital. The hospital has so many doctors on staff that they don't print the names on the hard copy prescription. You would think they would at least have the competence to know to write their DEA or NPI number, especially if the prescription contains a controlled substance.

 

[PikminOC]

It's not weird. This happens all the time.


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But it shouldn't. What a waste of time for you all

 

[BidingMyTime]

And then you call the hospital and they have no idea and say they can't connect you to anyone that can help unless you can tell them who the prescriber is ...
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And then when you finally do get through to the right doctor, it's a new grad who has no idea what their NPI or DEA is, or even if they have one.... (like yes, you are writing prescriptions, you surely at least have an NPI) Haha, one time I could hear the doctor talking in the background asking the nurse/wardclerk/whatever if this person knew their NPI/DEA.

 

[PharmDBro2017]

But it shouldn't. What a waste of time for you all

Happens often unfortunately. I have to do it probably 2-3x/week.

Was searching for a certain APN's DEA/NPI information the other week for a tramadol script; After calling the hospital, they had had me call some medical service number and they only could give me the MD's number who was linked with the APN... I had to call the MD at home 9pm at night (I kinda felt bad)... he was very nice and understanding at least.

 

[radio frequency]

Happens often unfortunately. I have to do it probably 2-3x/week.

Was searching for a certain APN's DEA/NPI information the other week for a tramadol script; After calling the hospital, they had had me call some medical service number and they only could give me the MD's number who was linked with the APN... I had to call the MD at home 9pm at night (I kinda felt bad)... he was very nice and understanding at least.

Amazingly, this never happens where I practice. Literally has never happened to me. But what a total pain the rear.

Ok; I take it back...I have received a few out of state Rxs missing info. Not from hospitals though.

 

[Dred Pirate]

By calling in all your prescriptions you are inviting errors. Verbal rxs are terrible.


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electronic rx's have their errors to, just with erx's you often don't know there is an error (easy to select prilosec vs prozac or 10mg vs 30mg , etc)

 

[genesis09]

The most annoying scripts I have to deal with are nursing home discharge rx. How hard is it to have a clearly written quantity, date, and prescriber name. Even after I tell them what I need, they still get it wrong.

 

[zelman]

The most annoying scripts I have to deal with are nursing home discharge rx. How hard is it to have a clearly written quantity, date, and prescriber name. Even after I tell them what I need, they still get it wrong.

That's because they deal in orders, not Rx's. In the last year we discharged plenty of residents and only one needed prescriptions. The others went to the morgue. Someone who writes prescriptions once a year is going to get rusty.

 

[FarmD711]

That's because they deal in orders, not Rx's. In the last year we discharged plenty of residents and only one needed prescriptions. The others went to the morgue. Someone who writes prescriptions once a year is going to get rusty.

Then they shouldn't be writing them or they should ask for help. I don't often dispense certain specialty medications. Doesn't mean I can get it wrong when I do. Only doing it once a year is not an excuse to be missing required elements from a prescription.


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[BidingMyTime]

Then they shouldn't be writing them or they should ask for help. I don't often dispense certain specialty medications. Doesn't mean I can get it wrong when I do. Only doing it once a year is not an excuse to be missing required elements from a prescription.
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This. Being rusty is understandable, but then someone should now to ask for help/check appropriate references/even google search to figure out the right way to do it. Especially if a pharmacist is telling them what they need (see genesis's post), then the "i don't know" excuse seems particularly lame.