What does a pharmacist do?

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dudelove

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I have to admit, I am a bit ignorant as to what a pharmacist does. Can someone sum up what the pharmacist does and what a typical day for a pharmacist is? Thanks

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Typical day for a retail pharmacist:

36 Unhappy customers
43 Rejected claims
6 Pharm Tech mistakes
3 Printer jams
29 Refill-too-soons
54 Insurance claim issues
214 Minutes on the telephone

Also, if planning a career in pharmacy, memorize these sayings:

"This medication is non-forumulary."
"I don't know why the won't pay for it."
"Yes I am sure that this is what your doctor wrote for."
"I have no idea why your co-pay is $15.00."
"I can't refill this until next Tuesday."
"Most insurance companies won't reimburse for pills accidentaly dropped in the toilet."
"40mg? No, Doctor, they don't make a 40mg tablet. 50mg? Sure, ok."
"Hi, this is XYZ pharmacy. I need to talk to Dr. Tremor because I can't read what he wrote."
"Shoe laces? Isle 3."
 
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:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

this is SOOO true.
 
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LOL, so true. You also start to answer the phone, simply, "pharmacist" instead of giving your name. When I worked in retail, I used to wish it were possible just to let my license stand there and fill prescriptions, so I could go home and do something more intellectually stimulating--like watching TV...:laugh:
 
"Thank you for calling the firey pits of hell, this is the pharmacist speaking. How can you make my day any worse?"
:D
 
Nobody has really explained what a pharmacist does though. From my limited knowledge of the field, I see them taking phonecalls and filling bottles with pills, putting them in a paperbag, stapling the bag shut, and waiting for a pickup. Is that pretty much it or is there more?
 
I should leave this to someone that has more knowledge about this, but since no has chimed in I'll give you my limited insight. I think what described is a large portion of retail pharm. If you enter the hospital setting there is more to it. They are involved in makeing-up certain IV's (what they are, I don't know), making certain meds, and now they are starting to go on rounds. There are certain meds that need to made fresh when they are needed. In these cases the pharm will get a call from ER and they need to quickly make up a certain medication. Some hospitals have the pharm check on patients and even follow around the doctor. I have heard of some cases where the doc goes into the room and diagnosis the patient and ask the pharm what they should get. Then the doc writes the Rx. I'm not saying this much co-managment is rampid all over the country, but it is popping up here and there. As pharm start to specialize in certain areas, a pharm may be very involved in the unit of the hospital where they have specialized knowledge.

Please someone correct anything I got wrong.
 
"Thank you for calling the firey pits of hell, this is the pharmacist speaking. How can you make my day any worse?"
:D
lol this is hilarious. also I think this is the oldest thread someone has asked about the role of a pharmacist. but I think the roles described above (both retail and hospital) are pretty accurate. Although I just really wanted to do this for ShadowRX haha :D
 
lol this is hilarious. also I think this is the oldest thread someone has asked about the role of a pharmacist. but I think the roles described above (both retail and hospital) are pretty accurate. Although I just really wanted to do this for ShadowRX haha :D

shame on you, you brought back an old thread from 2002, lol. It was pretty funny though.
 
shame on you, you brought back an old thread from 2002, lol. It was pretty funny though.
haha that was the point, Shadow kinda gets irritated when people do that :p although I don't understand why it is a shameful thing to do lol.
 
Typical day for a retail pharmacist:

36 Unhappy customers
43 Rejected claims
6 Pharm Tech mistakes
3 Printer jams
29 Refill-too-soons
54 Insurance claim issues
214 Minutes on the telephone

I'd be darned. You have some highly experienced techs over there. It's not so bad!
 
I have to admit, I am a bit ignorant as to what a pharmacist does. Can someone sum up what the pharmacist does and what a typical day for a pharmacist is? Thanks

They work on pharms. or something.
 
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haha that was the point, Shadow kinda gets irritated when people do that :p although I don't understand why it is a shameful thing to do lol.
Shoot, samurai... got on my ass already about that, didn't ya?

This is valid. I'm not a mod, so I can't ban ya from replying to older posts... not yet anyway muhuhahahahaha...
 
In 2002, I moved from a good part of my state to an ok part of my state :laugh:

I say that, but both parts have its advantages and disadvantages.

My school has a main campus at the place I live in now, and a satellite campus at the place I grew up.
 
In 2002, I moved from a good part of my state to an ok part of my state :laugh:

I say that, but both parts have its advantages and disadvantages.

My school has a main campus at the place I live in now, and a satellite campus at the place I grew up.

Ahh, you went from Fayetteville to Little Rock? Are you on crack?
 
In 2002, I was in both college as a junior and my first year of paramedic school as well as jobless. I got three speeding tickets that year too, lol, from all of the commuting I had to do from class to class to clinical sites to the house, to class, blah. Who knew after all that I'd end up writing the tickets. :rolleyes: :D

I'm 28 and old.
 
saywhaaaaaaaat-1.gif
 
Meh, she is worse than I am when it comes to remembering dates. I doubt she would mind since she probably couldn't tell you herself.;)
Oh snap. I have to text my sister. My moms bday is somewhere around now.
 
in 2002 I was in third grade? yeah. AHH memories :)
 
typical day for a retail pharmacist:

36 unhappy customers
43 rejected claims
6 pharm tech mistakes
3 printer jams
29 refill-too-soons
54 insurance claim issues
214 minutes on the telephone

also, if planning a career in pharmacy, memorize these sayings:

"this medication is non-forumulary."
"i don't know why the won't pay for it."
"yes i am sure that this is what your doctor wrote for."
"i have no idea why your co-pay is $15.00."
"i can't refill this until next tuesday."
"most insurance companies won't reimburse for pills accidentaly dropped in the toilet."
"40mg? No, doctor, they don't make a 40mg tablet. 50mg? Sure, ok."
"hi, this is xyz pharmacy. I need to talk to dr. Tremor because i can't read what he wrote."
"shoe laces? Isle 3."

lol!!!!
 
The shock/awe of someone not knowing what a pharmacist does. Oh, and now that I read the date of the original post, how someone revived the thread. Jesus, I was in 10th grade when this thread was started.

I meant am I missing the signficance of the man in the video clip.
 
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