Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Labor Day Holiday, 4:37 p.m.

Dr. Grumpy: "This is Dr. Grumpy, returning a page."

Mr. McGuire: "Yeah, I'm all out of my medicine, and need it called in."

Dr. Grumpy: "Okay, I can do that. What pharmacy do you want it called to?"

Mr. McGuire "Well, I normally use TAP Pharmacy, but they're closed for the holiday."

Dr. Grumpy: "There's a 24 hour Pills-R-Us I can call it to."

Mr.McGuire : "Yeah, but my insurance won't cover me there. Can you call the people at TAP Pharmacy and make them come in and open for me?"
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19 comments:

  1. w8ng2retireRPHSeptember 6, 2011 at 9:20 AM

    i love people. and their shit planning.

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  2. Cthulhu SashimiSeptember 6, 2011 at 10:54 AM

    "Okay, then, just in case the cops come around asking if you know anything about who broke into TAP Pharmacy between 4:45 and 5:00 today, can you tell them I was with you?"

    ReplyDelete
  3. MDBSeptember 6, 2011 at 11:02 AM

    This is one of the idiots I probably deal with every friday evening, weekend, and holiday. When the bottle says "No refills, doctor must authorize" and they come in on friday night with no medications. I can and will front them a couple of pills until we hear back from the MD office but that doesn't happen with controlled meds or things that are single dispense items (ie insulin vials, insulin pens, birth control). I have little feeling of sympathy when they come and whine about not having meds but they had a month or more before hand when they last picked up the meds to see they needed more refills called in.

    These same idiots are also the ones who seem to think calling the store manager and yelling at them gets insurances to cover medications and for me as the pharmacist to stay open later than the posted hours because they can't get in to the pharmacy until 11pm when we close at 9pm, earlier on the weekends. Which has been posted and hasn't changed for probably the past 5 years or so.

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  4. PA HoneybeeSeptember 6, 2011 at 11:22 AM

    What a stupid ass.

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  5. PackerSeptember 6, 2011 at 11:39 AM

    Buy your meds on the street like everyone else.

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  6. PollySeptember 6, 2011 at 11:48 AM

    Oooh! Oooh! I know the answer to that question!

    "No."

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  7. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2011 at 12:22 PM

    ...and while you're at it, make the rest of the world revolve around me too.

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  8. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2011 at 12:49 PM

    "failure to prepare on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

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  9. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2011 at 1:24 PM

    At least they knew the name of the med...

    http://thethingspatientssay.blogspot.com/2011/09/names-are-important.html

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  10. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2011 at 1:47 PM

    Thanks Dr. Grumpy for allowing your readers to feel the pharmacist's pain as well as yours in this post. Cause you know that the next morning there will be a call into TAP pharmacy wondering why his prescription is not there and ready for pickup
    Signed: A grateful RPh

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  11. AnonymousSeptember 6, 2011 at 1:48 PM

    That's nice that you do medication refills like that---as an emergency. All my doctors have a message when you call after hours that states, "No medication refills will be called in after hours, weekends or holidays!" I know it's a generic warning and depending on the situaion and patient; exceptions will and have been made. At least in this case your patient called at a reasonable hour!

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  12. ErinSeptember 6, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    @Packer, that's exactly what I was thinking. It'd be a heck of a lot faster, that's for sure. Plus, will add an exciting, dangerous element to the day, so ask for Xanax while you're at the street corner/back alley/abandoned warehouse.

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  13. pharmacy chickSeptember 6, 2011 at 7:20 PM

    Wow, then TAP pharmacy would become TAestP pharmacy REAL QUICK..true story: had an employee call me one evening after we closed on a sunday. some lady was pitching fit because she needed to pick up her premarin because she was leaving on a plane trip to europe the next morning. It had been there A WEEK!!!!

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  14. cliffintokyoSeptember 7, 2011 at 4:50 AM

    Whoa, Doc! Don't get delusions of grandeur because of all that power you wield, according to this patient anyway!

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  15. DebSeptember 7, 2011 at 7:26 AM

    Wow. Thats quite the Entitlement Complex. A very pompous, self-absorbed statement. I wonder if they think the rest of the world should revolve around them as well?

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  16. AnonymousSeptember 7, 2011 at 6:35 PM

    My pet peeve. One time I was almost out (3 pills) of an Rx I take for a chronic condition. No refills on bottle, so naturally called it into pharmacy anyway, and they sent the request to the Dr. It got lost. Or somehow the notification system wasn't working. So it was 3 days of calling into pharmacy to see if they go the script yet... nope. Called the Dr.'s office. They never got the request, but after a day, called in the RX and I finally got my prescription... The original request finally came through a week later, and I had the Dr. calling me, asking why I was requesting more meds.... Frustrating to say the least.

    Sometimes when you use the pill boxes to put the day's drugs in, you don't look at the bottle as frequently and forget that it is empty or getting really low.

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  17. clairesmumSeptember 7, 2011 at 9:27 PM

    usually I can guess the significance of the "patient's" name. But I am stumped on this one. Any hints on "Mr McGuire"?

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  18. Grumpy, M.D.September 7, 2011 at 11:09 PM

    Clairesmum: McGuire.

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  19. clairesmumSeptember 8, 2011 at 9:10 PM

    Thanks, Grumpy. Ya learn something new every day - now if I can just remember this gent's name for Labor Day NEXT year! the proper nouns are already getting harder to retrieve.

    ReplyDelete

So wadda you think?