Posted by Noa on December 9, 2001, at 13:12:08
In reply to Re: Input Requested, posted by christophrejmc on December 6, 2001, at 1:48:42
I don't know about Canada but here in the US, pharmacies make you sign whether you want to talk to the pharmacist about the med or not. I have worked with some pharmacists who will take the time and respond respectfully and patiently to my questions. But more often than not, the pharmacist is overwhelmed and not very available. They have to spend SO much time on the computer with the insurance companies that they are not really spending time doing what they probably went into the biz to do. Often, the body language says--don't bother me. It seems that the insurance companies have enslaved these professionals!
Another issue is language. Increasingly, pharmacists are not native English speakers. Which is fine, except that I'd like to see them have better communication skills--ie, continue to improve English skills as well as cultural communication awareness.
Pharmacy aides often speak nearly no English, which is also frustrating.
Perhaps the pharmacy boards of the states could offer free English/communication classes and some sort of incentive to participate and achieve increasing levels of proficiency?
Sometimes it seems the older pharmacists are better at responding and explaining--they probably had more experience with this part of the job because they worked pre-managed care.
Perhaps pharm schools could offer a degree in pharmacy information systems in order to free up the pharmacists to do their jobs better?
Worst situation? Went to a chain pharm, dropped off script, came back next day to learn they didn't have the med (Adderall). You'd think they'd have the decency to call to tell me they didn't have any med in stock. So, I went to another location of same chain. Dropped off script, checked to make sure they had it in stock, ascertained it would be ready in an hour, went to do errands for an hour, came back, waited for another hour, finally got my script. Since I hadn't had adderall in a couple of days, I opened the vial on my way out the door, to discover that instead of large blue pills, there were many tiny white pills. Went back to pharmacy, let them know this. Response from tech. was maybe it was the generic. I said, Adderall has no generic. "Well, maybe you haven't taken this medication before and don't know what it looks like." "Yes I do know. Please tell the pharmacist". Another 15 minutes of waiting and then the pharmacist brings the adderall to the counter and apologizes. I asked, just out of curiosity what the other med was--Oxycontin. I didn't recognize the name, so I asked her what kind of med it was and she told me pain killers. It was only after asking at PB that I learned that it is a powerful pain killer. And subsequently read the Newsweek article about the increase in abuse of oxycontin.
That whole experience was maddening. And the idea that a med like oxycontin could go out by mistake so easily! It seems that this pharm was not being very careful at all. But also the customer service was horrible.
My current frustration is that I have had pretty good experiences at two pharmacies, but their hours aren't very good. One pharmacy has one good pharmacist and I try to go when he is on duty, but sometimes he is not in. The other is a grocery store that I used once and found the pharmacist good but they aren't open when I am typcially in the vicinity of the grocery store. I have used a 24 hour pharm near home because of the hours but find the customer service pretty lacking. The pharmacist is pretty unavailable, and the clerks barely speak enough English to spell my name. And, I think because of the dearth of 24 hour pharms, this place can be crowded at any time of day or night---can you imagine coming in at 2 am when you are sick and finding out you have to come back to pick your scrip up 3 hours later???
poster:Noa
thread:15042
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20011207/msgs/15260.html