Dr. Grumpy: "This is Dr. Grumpy, returning a page."
Mr. Platelet: "Hi, I need you to call the pharmacist about my Plavix."
Dr. Grumpy: "What's wrong? I thought Annie called it in earlier today?"
Mr. Platelet: "Yeah, but they're trying to pull a fast one on me. They tried to give me something called Clopidogrel, and they're telling me it's the same. And I've never taken Clopidogrel!"
Dr. Grumpy: "It is the same. Clopidogrel is just the generic name."
Mr. Platelet: "It is?"
Dr. Grumpy: "Yeah."
Mr. Platelet: "Oh crap. Normally my wife picks it up for me, too. I've just never noticed."
Dr. Grumpy: "Same drug. Just go get it."
Mr. Platelet: "Um, can you call it in to another pharmacy for me? After the way I acted I'm too embarrassed to go back there now."
I'm afraid he will never learn if you enable him, Grumpy. I hope you told him no.
ReplyDeleteLove means never having to say you are sorry.
ReplyDeleteAnd testing your memory: Source it.
Well in Pt.'s defense, he did not know the generic name. AND pharmacies have been known to make errors.
ReplyDeleteSo I can't fault him for being concerned and asking about the "error."
Now if the pharmacist got involved and showed him the two drug names, then we have a different story . . .
I am surprised and tend to think the Pt. was not reasonable, because at every pharmacy I have been to, a situation like that would be shown to the pharmacist. Her/His livelihood is on the line.
I can't believe he paged you before consulting Dr. Google. But then again, if he's been taking the generic for approximatelym a year and didn't know it, he might not even know about the Googles.
ReplyDeleteI like that the patient had enough sense to be embarrassed and admit it :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, but never enough sense to apologize to the pharmacy staff.
ReplyDeleteTo Ms. Donna... Yes, pharmacies do make errors and the news sources LOVE those stories. BUT...if you ever knew how many doctor errors we catch in just one day, you would be stunned and possibly never trust a doctor again! I wish 20/20 would do an expose about that. Besides, if the patient had bothered to look at the label, it should have read: Clopidogrel.....generic for Plavix. It is my experience that patients are very quick to raise hell and complain, but are very slow to apologize for their ignorance or misunderstanding. And each patient does have the right and should always question any medication that they don't recognize or looks differently than what they had before. The problems and confusion often occur when someone else picks up the medication.
ReplyDelete"Also, now I'm not sure if the drug is really in suppository form or if the pharmacist was just speaking rhetorically."
ReplyDeleteWednesday was a full moon. Which means it is Yell-at-your-Pharmacist-Day, and that is just how it is. Always. Thirteen Wednesdays a year, patients act wackier than usual. I just send silent prayers to Hades and Hel that they may have an easier time with those than I when their time comes.
ReplyDeleteI say, advise the patient to go in himself and make a full apology. It doesn't take a maximal amount of rabid customers to unmake a pharmacist's day, but if ONLY one patient goes back to apologize, it can MAKE a pharmacist's WHOLE day.
ReplyDeleteI have this conversation about TWENTY times a day when I work at my pharmacy. SIGH.
ReplyDeleteWhy would you yell at the pharmacist anyway?? geez just take his word for it, and afterwards call the dr and confirm (if he has trust issue's) - Then if the pharmacy is wrong,, he would have reason to get upset
ReplyDelete