Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Start of Pharmacy School

Yep...it started for me this week. So far so good. I'm getting CPR certified, which I've never done before, so I'm pretty stoked about that. I got to compress the chest on the model today. All the people, faculty and staff, seem amazing and very accommodating.

I honestly thought I could keep my tech job while going to school but listening to all the material and time needed for school...I think I'm going to tell people tomorrow that I can't do it. It makes me feel bad that they just hired me on but now I'm telling them I'm quitting. Oh well. I guess I can't have anymore pharmacy rants for a while.

Whee!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

You made my day, happy little kid.

Today was a pretty typical day. Only thing that stayed on my mind was this little kid that came into the pharmacy. He came with an older man who was picking up his prescription; I assume it was either his dad or his grandfather. What struck me was this kid, around ten years old, was just randomly singing Christmas songs while I was checking out his old counterpart. At first I thought, what an odd little kid, but then it's like...wow...here's a kid that's just happily singing away without a care in the world. Doesn't matter it wasn't even close to Christmas...he was belting out songs like it was supposed to be.

You go kid. Sing your heart out.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Just waiting for it.

Well it finally happened. I found my new bitter old person that hates the world. I had two people I knew about at the other pharmacy. The type of person that you just wanted to go hide when you saw their rx were ready to pick up.

Lady comes through drive through. Apparently her meds didn't go through insurance because the tech that scanned the rx had put down the wrong birthdate for her. BUT IT WORKS AT CVS!!!! I go through the thing asking if her insurance had the birthday wrong..etc etc. That's when I found out her birthday was wrong. I corrected it...through her insulting me the whole time (GET A BRAIN, GIRL!!!) Turns out the doctor wrote for a three month supply while her insurance will only cover one month at a time. Which means...we have to redo the script. She kept screaming about it working at CVS. She also sent over a script for eye drops and -demanded- that I make it work even if the insurance rejects it. It did work and I told her that...but of course I got no thank you.

After she finally drove off in a huff...I helped lane one in the drive through. The guy in lane one is like "well bless your heart...you poor thing having to deal with that." That made me feel better. There are kind people out there. Thank you person in drive who told me that. You really lightened my mood. Bless you.

CVS Bitch, as I shall call her, apparently called back later and ripped the pharmacist a new one. Even the sweetest pharmacist was just like...what a bitter old lady.

I hope and pray that my life will not be so shitty and bitter in my old age that I resort to taking all my hate on other people.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Whee!

Mondays are horrible busy. It got to the point where I was telling people in drive through two hour wait time. Lady comes by and needs her meds -right- now. Her friend needs the Xanax because she having a procedure done in an hour and a half. The rx was written for the 16th. She had five days to get it filled and she wants it now. I put her script in as a waiter. When they came around to pick it up...wrote a check...it wasn't accepted because apparently there have been problems with them actually paying for it...even though "they don't know why it's not being accepted." Whatever.

An actual hot guy came through the drive through. Nice, expensive car, too. Works out. Nice haircut. Of course he had to be on Valtrex and Aldara.

There was a guy that was dropping off ER meds. Didn't have insurance. I didn't see what the meds were for, but they were a bit expensive. Random guy behind him waiting to drop off his wife's meds offered to pay the full price for all of them. Didn't even know the guy, never met him before in his life. That's the second time that incident has happened. Either people here are a lot nicer or they're just more naive.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

It's not my fault you lost your pills.

It really isn't. It is also not my fault that we are behind 45 minutes on prescription because the morning technician passed out and had to be taken to the hospital. So please, if you will, do not scream at me because you lost your heart medications and your insurance will not cover it.

Also, standing right by the front counter waiting for your script to be filled will not get them done any faster. Same with staring daggers at me while you are floating at the front counter. So just go sit down. Seriously.

That is all.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

I am not in charge of your kid's healthcare.

Sudafed seriously is the new syringe. People buy that all the freaking time. For some reason, they all want the generic Actiphed. We happen to be out of that right now...so telling druggies we don't have that is a bit comical. They leave...probably to consult with their druggie friends...only to come back a couple minutes later to ask for generic Sudafed. Beautiful.

Other interesting incident of the night: Lady comes through drive and drops off her kid's rx. Comes back to pick them up. Rx is for Vigamox...which is an expensive (~$80) eyedrop. I ask if she has insurance....AHM ON MEDEECAID! Okay...do you have the card...no but I have something that says it is active. Okay, lemme try and run it through. Doesn't go, of course. I tell her that and she's like...well...I don't have the card, my kid just got reinstated. I go through my speel of we needing the card to run it on the insurance and she can pay cash now...bring Medicaid number in...we rerun the rx...and issue refund. Well she doesn't have the money right now and they haven't mailed her the Medicaid card. I told her she could go by the Medicaid office tomorrow (they're closed on weekends) and they can issue her a temporary card so we can run the insurance. Well she needs the eyedrops -now- because her son has an eye infection.

Seriously.

I gave her options...what the hell is it with Medicaid people that don't take charge of their own healthcare? If she wants it now, she can do what the non-special people do and actually pay for their own meds. It's not my damn fault that she can't get off her ass to go to the Medicaid office. We don't just give away meds for free.

Anyways...she left all huffy.

Friday, July 11, 2008

New pharmacy, new drugseekers

I started my job at the new pharmacy to where I moved at. Same chain, so I pretty much knew how to do everything. I like the people I work with so far, so that's always good. I haven't sold any syringes yet, but everybody and their dog want Sudafed. It's crazy.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Last Day Of Work

Today was my last day at the pharmacy before moving to my pharmacy school city. When I walked in to start my shift, the staff had all bought balloons and cookies for me. They had a signed a card for me saying good luck. I couldn't help it...I starting tearing up. When I left, I started tearing up again. Dammit, I'm going to miss everybody. Yes the job was frustrating and stressful but the people I worked with were absolutely amazing. I just hope the people will be as awesome in the pharmacy I'm transferring to. I never felt so appreciated before...and I am so happy I chose to work there.

On an interesting note...we got some worker's compensation scripts from contestants for the Black Gold reality show that's going to air on the Discovery Channel. Some of them contestants had been injured and had to visit the ER. A sweet public relations lady from the company dropped off the scripts. She reminded me of my cousin that works for Fox in Los Angeles. I thought that was pretty nifty.

Now I have to start packing.

Syringes

Some people at the pharmacy would sell syringes to a person with a needle stuck in them and a tourniquet strapped to their arm. It's frustrating dealing with said people when you deny them their addiction....but their responses are amazing.

Couple days ago...redneck junkie comes up. Gives the whole well-rehearsed line about needing a pack of U-100s. I ask him does he fill his insulin here. That question usually makes said junkie throw back a deer-in-the-headlight look. But this guy...oh this guy has got it laid out. He said he takes Hemoglobin 70/30 insulin.

There is a Humalog 70/30 insulin for sure...but I'm not exactly sure what kind of insulin a doctor would prescribe that has an oxygen carrier in it.

So...syringe denied.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Crazy Busy Night

Tonight was quite interesting.

There is a certain doctor in town famous for dealing with the bottom fish of the barrel. From this day forward I shall call him Dr. CII. He is also famous for prescribing a shit ton of pain medication. Case in point, I got a script tonight for 600 Methadone 10MG, 540 Lortab 10MG, and 360 Xanax 1MG....yeah crazy.

I got a call from a lady that seemed like she was kiting on something. Also a Dr. CII patient. She had just gotten a 30 day supply of Xanax, Lortab, and Soma on May 27. She incoherently finally got around to saying she wanted a refill. I told her my druggy tirade saying she could get that refilled again in thirty days which would be on June 26. She goes into this trippy story of what point she was trying to make I have no idea. She mentioned getting paid $500 per month...funerals...etc. etc. I pretty much had to say...I have to hang up the phone unless you need anything else. More kiting speech...finally got her to hang up after 10 minutes of repeating myself.

Viagra Guy called in again tonight. He's a nice younger guy that must be having a boatload of sex. I know him by name, he knows me by name. He actually has insurance that'll cover his pills...but...(and I know this from talking to him repeatedly)...the insurance will only cover 6 pills in 30 days. Also...the insurance will also cover 12 refills. He's bought one or to pills at a time...so insurance isn't going to cover it anymore. He always calls in...and I give him the typical one hour wait time. -Every- time he's like...well...can I get it sooner. I really feel like saying...dude...start the foreplay -after- you get the pill. He actually asked me how old I was tonight and made other small talk while we were wading through tons of waiters with him anxiously hovering by the counter. Odd...but oh well. I'd rather deal with him than a Dr. CII patient anyday.

Monday, June 9, 2008

No...we really don't have to fill everything the doctor writes for...

Tonight I had the midnight shift again. Pretty typical Monday night...amazingly no syringe seekers. I did have a guy come in with a script from the local drug-catering doctor for Methadone 10MG. This guy is usually all nice and courteous until you tell him "no" about something. He gets all huffy and pissy. Before...he came to pick up a controlled substance medication for himself. We require documentation of who picks up controlled substances...so we want to see an ID, usually a drivers license, before we can sell it. It's Texas state law. He didn't have it...so got all pissy...threatening to transfer his scripts elsewhere...sure whatever.

Back to the Methadone...

Tonight he dropped off a script for a 30 days supply of Methadone. He wanted to pay cash for it. Red flag there. I check his profile. He got a 30 days supply of the same thing on May 16th meaning we wouldn't fill his new script until June 15th. I tell him this. He gets that angry, quiet look to him.

"You're supposed to fill anything the doctor writes for!"

I blink and reply, "No....this is a controlled substance...we don't release them early until your thirty days is up."

"But I'm going out of town!"

"Lemme ask the pharmacist, then." I knew the pharmacist would say no...it just gives me better cred if I back it up. So I tell him no again. He merely stands up and snatches the prescription out of my hand and storms out of the pharmacy. I really hope he does transfer his scripts. Then he can see that it's not just us that doesn't put up with his bullshit.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Graduation!

So...night before graduation. All high school aged kids come into the pharmacy wanting Sudafed and syringes. Lovely way to start off the rest of your adult life. Sudafed we couldn't do much about...but syringe sales we can deny. I just don't understand the whole thing about getting drugged out after graduation. Bad choices.

Day after graduation...we sold out of the Plan B emergency contraceptive. At least some girls were trying to be responsible. I wonder the percentage of people that got lifelong STDs from that lustrous night.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Introduction

I am a pharmacy student that will start school in the fall. I have my bachelors in biochemistry and have been working at a national retail pharmacy since July 2007 as a certified pharmacy technician. This blog will be about my experiences in pharmacy and pharmacy school. Any advice I can get from others in the profession will be appreciated.