Annie: "Dr. Grumpy's office, this is Annie."
Mr. Sofa: "Um, I stopped by my pharmacy on Tuesday to request a refill, and I still don't have it."
Annie: "Hang on... It looks like Dr. Grumpy approved the refill on Tuesday afternoon."
Mr. Sofa: "Well, I still don't have it."
Annie: "Did you call them to see if it's ready?"
Mr. Sofa: "No. I don't have their number. Could you look it up for me?"
Annie: "It's right here. It's 867-"
Mr. Sofa: "Actually, can you call them for me and ask if it's ready?"
Yep. Sounds like the average pharmacy customer to me. I just got yelled at for not informing a customer that she was on her last refill. When I asked if she read the label indicating refills: 0, she said, with genuine shock "No! I don't have time to look at things like that!" Sigh.
ReplyDeleteErin, CPhT
Hey, if you don't ask you won't receive.
ReplyDeleteAlright, I might be able to understand this. The pharmacy I go to has a communication problem with the doctor I go to. BIG communication problem, and both sides admit it and say they don't know what to do about it. Calling in new scripts if very difficult. The doctor calls in the script, I go to pick it up a while later and the pharmacy has no information about the script. I call the doctors office from the pharmacy and ask if they sent it and they say yes, they sent it in hours ago and they will send it again right away. I stay on the phone with them and I hear some clicking of the computer and then they tell me that it has been sent in. I inform the pharmacy that it has just been re-sent and then I go off and wander around the store for a while while they fill it. 30 minutes later I go back to see if it has been filled and I am told that they haven't yet received it! ARGH! So yeah, at that point I want either the pharmacy to call the doctor or the doctor to call the pharmacy because we're not getting anywhere with me trying to connect both sides. Usually the pharmacist ends up placing a call to the doctor and somehow that magically works and I only end up wasting about 2 hours of my life waiting for a simple script.
ReplyDeleteAlso, my refills always say 1 left unless it is the last one. It doesn't matter if I have 11 left, the label will say that I have 1 left because the doctor always writes the script for a year...90 pills at a time with 4 refills, but the insurance company refuses to pay for more than a 30 day supply, so I always, according the the label, have only 1 refill left. Drives me nuts and ends up costing me more money. Bah. I complained about that once before here and someone told me to try Walmart, I think, but it didn't work...my insurance company is run by pinheads.
On the other hand, if Mr. Sofa is actually just lazy then I totally understand the frustration you have. ;)
Does Annie cook dinner, walk the dog and clean as well?
ReplyDeletePoor Annie!! Give that girl a raise!
ReplyDeleteI had one person yesterday screaming at me of why a script had not been called in from the MD's office. The patient called the office and they said they sent it. The person screaming at me would not listen to the fact that they were calling the wrong pharmacy. They needed to call the pharmacy in town B, not town A where I was.
ReplyDeleteI also get people who call and ask why we don't have a script when they doctor sent it and was confirmed as recieved. Why people don't listen when the IVR system and the human picking up answer "welcome to wal-mart pharmacy, how can I help you today?" and yet insist they are calling walgreens or cvs or some other pharmacy chain. And no I cannot nor will not transfer your call to some other phone number because your too lazy to dial a number even if I will look it up for you in my system; I'm not a telephone operator.
And Annie, could you please pick up the medicine from the pharmacy and take it for me?
ReplyDeletePacker's lessons in commercially permissable lying.
ReplyDeleteNo, (establishes finality) I would (establishes that you are caring) but HIPPA rules don't allow them to even get out that information to a third party ( Sounds so official that they are baffled by the BS)
Or, simply wait 3 minutes call her back and say you are good to go.
We are freaking doomed as a species, hope she did not propagate.
Doesn't surprise me. People take no responsibility for their medical care, it makes me crazy.
ReplyDeleteDr. Grumpy, you'll love this one. Last night in the ER, we got a patient who had a several seizures, came in a few hours after the last seizure. Was she on any seizure meds? No, she stopped taking them because she wasn't having any seizures.
Stupidity rules.
I've had a lot more trouble with the doctor's offices not doing it right than with the pharmacies. The only bad a pharmacy has done to me is add an extra zero to the quantity and then simply not send a requested refill because it's outside the quantity ordered. (Never mind that they successfully filled the correct amount before.)
ReplyDelete"It's a long story, but I think they've been blocking my calls for the last few weeks. Oh, and if Sarah answers, can you ask her if she got the flowers and why she's been coming home so late?"
ReplyDeleteDid you give him the right number? Because it is also the same number as the disability paperwork office.
ReplyDelete"And can you ask if those extra-small condoms I special-ordered have arrived?"
ReplyDeleteMind-boggling. But completely normal these days.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should just give up and start peddling the Percocets right out of your office.
ReplyDeleteMy teenage son would answer that with a careful "I *can*..." and leave the "(but I won't)" unsaid but somehow ringing in the air nonetheless.
ReplyDelete