Rite Aid Ramblings

I was thinking today at work about ridiculous things that slow pharmacists down in the retail setting...most of them are embedded in the story in the post below, but often it is people's questions that take up a lot of the time. And I am not meaning the questions you should ask your pharmacist, because I am all about us being one of the most approachable and trusted professionals in the medical field - no, I am talking about the questions that have nothing to do with your pharmacist... Here are a few samples from the last few weeks at Rite Aid:
-"Where is the wine in the store?"
-"I just bought some sugar-free honey from Wal-mart and I was wondering what is in it that makes it still sweet?"
-Lady in the drive-thru window - "Could you go get some Aloe-vera gel from the store shelves for me, so I don't have to come inside?" (seriously, are you that lazy?)
-"Do you have those talking Easter eggs that you hide and then they talk so you can find them easier?"
I know there are more, but my mind cannot remember them all right now...

On a slightly different note, today I spent about 1 hour helping this lady figure out what kind of insurance she had when she approached the counter with a 10-digit account number only, no card, no card name, etc...very helpful...and then when I finally ran the prescription through for the probably much needed antibiotics and told her it was $1.10, she said she didn't have the money and would try to come back tomorrow...seriously?
Only 2 more days!! But, who's counting?

The answer to why it took 2 hours to get your 20 Vicodin

My preceptor showed me the following article and I found it to be quite hilarious and true - I think all the situations below happened today at RiteAid... I think Sarah will enjoy this the most!

Why your pharmacist hates you so much…
For those of you who work in a retail pharmacy, a typical workday account…
For those of you who wonder why the pharmacist always looks so annoyed, the answer…

You come to the counter. I am on the phone with a drunk dude who wants the phone number to the grocery store next door. After I instruct him on the virtues of 411, you tell me your doctor was to phone in your prescription to me. Your doctor hasn’t, and you’re unwilling to wait until he does. Being in a generous mood, I call your doctors office and am put on hold for 5 minutes, then informed that your prescription was phoned in to my competitor on the other side of town. Phoning the competitor, I am immediately put on hold for 5 minutes before speaking to a clerk, who puts me back on hold to wait for the pharmacist. Your prescription Is then transferred to me, and now I have to get the 2 phone calls that have been put on hold while this was being done. Now I return to the counter to ask if we’ve ever filed prescriptions for you before. For some reason, you think that “for you” means “for your cousin” and you answer my question with a “yes”, whereupon I go to the computer and see that you are not on file.
The phone rings.
You have left to do something very important, such as browse through the monster truck magazines and do not hear the three PA announcements requesting that you return to the pharmacy. You return eventually, expecting to pick up the finished prescription…
The phone rings.
…only to find out that I need to ask your address, phone number, date of birth, if you have any allergies and insurance coverage. You tell me that you’re allergic to codeine. Since the prescription is for Vicodin (hydrocodone+Tylenol), I ask you what exactly codeine did to you when you took it. You say it made your stomach hurt and I roll my eyes and write down “no known allergies.” You tell me…
The phone rings.
…you have insurance and spend the next 5 minutes looking for your card. You give up and expect me to be able to file your claim anyway. I call my competitor and am immediately put on hold. Upon reaching a human, I ask them what insurance they have on file for you. I get the information and file your claim, which is rejected because you changed jobs 6 months ago. A jerk barges his way to the counter to ask where the bread is.
The phone rings.
I inform you that the insurance the other pharmacy has on file for you isn’t working. You produce a card in under 10 seconds that you seemed to be unable to find before. What you were really doing was hoping your old insurance would still work because it had a lower copay. Your new card prominently displays the logo of Nebraska Blue Cross, and although Nebraska blue cross does in fact handle millions of prescription claims every day, for the group you belong to, the claim should go to a company called Caremark, whose logo is nowhere on the card.
The phone rings.
A lady comes to the counter wanting to know why the cherry flavored antacid works better than the lemon cram flavored antacid. What probably happened is that she had a milder case of heartburn when she took the cherry flavored brand, as they both use the exact same ingredient in the same strength. She will not be satisfied though until I confirm her belief that the cherry flavored brand is the superior product. I file your claim with Caremark, who rejects it because you had a 30 day supply of Vicodin filled 15 days ago at another pharmacy. You swear to me on your mother’s…
The phone rings.
….life that you did not have a Vicodin prescription filled recently. I call Caremark and am immediately put on hold. The most beautiful man on the planet walks by and notices not a thing. He has never talked to a pharmacist and never will. Upon reaching a human at Caremark, I am informed that the Vicodin prescription was indeed filled at another of my competitors. When I tell you this, you say that you got hydrocodone there, not Vicodin. Another little part of me dies…
The phone rings.
It turns out that a few days after your doctor wrote your last prescription, he told you to take it more frequently, meaning that what Caremark though was a 30-day supply is indeed a 15 day supply with the new instructions. I call your doctor’s office to confirm this and am immediately put on hold…I call Caremark to get an override and am immediately put on hold. My laser printer has a paper jam. It’s time for my tech to go to lunch. Caremark issue the override and your claim goes through. Your insurance saves you 85 cents off the regular price of the prescription.
The phone rings.
At the cash register you sign…
The phone rings.
…the acknowledgment that you received a copy of my HIPPA policy and that I offered the required OBRA counseling for new prescriptions. You remark that you’re glad that your last pharmacist told you that you shouldn’t take over the counter Tylenol along with the Vicodin, and that the acetaminophen you’re taking instead seems to be working pretty well. I break the news to you that Tylenol is simply a brand name for acetaminophen and you don’t believe me. You fumble around for 2 minutes looking for your checkbook and spend another 2 minutes making out a check for four dollars and sixty seven cents. You ask why the tablets look different than those that you got at the other pharmacy. I explain that they are from different manufacturer. Tomorrow you’ll be back to tell me that they don’t work as well.

Now imagine this wasn’t you at all, but the person who dropped off their prescription three people ahead of you, and you’ll start to have an idea of why…
your prescription takes SO DANG LONG TO FILL!

April

Only 5 more days of rotations!! Graduation is 8 days away!! I can't believe it - I will no longer be classified as a student!!
This weekend I started packing a few things to help offset my crazy month of May - I am really NOT excited about packing and the moving process. I love my house here and I hate to leave it, but I know a new adventure awaits me. I've been trying to enjoy my last few weeks in Bham, seeing as many of my friends as I can. A few highlights of the past weeks:
*Secret Church at Brookhills on the 10th - it was my first experience and it was amazing!! I have really grown to love David Platt's teaching of the word. I sure will miss it, but plan to continue listening to his sermons on my iPod.
*Easter Egg Hunt with Campbell; Then this past week she and I had a dinner date to Moe's - "Welcome to Moe's, Jess!!" We had a fun night, she has so much personality, and she loves to dance!
*Katie McDowell Isaac came to town all the way from Canada and we got to have a quick lunch with her! She was my discipleship leader the last 2 years in high school and we were Alpha Gam's together for 2 years as well. I will always be blessed for the spiritual impact she had on my life. Her precious son, Quinn (4mo) came as well!
*Hanging out with baby Isaac who's almost 3 months old already - He even went shopping with me for the new couches I am going to get when I move.
*Amy Pennington and I have planned an exciting graduation trip to GREECE!! We will be traveling June 15-25. For the first 4-5 days, we will be doing sightseeing (Corinth, Island hopping - Santourini, Athens) and then joining up with the IMB's annual general meeting of all the missionaires in Eastern Europe. It is the same kind of meeting that I went to in Africa last year. Amy and I will be serving as the Pharmacists on the trip and helping provide medical care to the 800+ missionairies. I am so excited about seeing this part of the world and providing a little help to the mission field.

Patient Etiquette

My friend Sarah published the following article on her blog back in December and today at RiteAid my preceptor shared the info with me again - It was funny back in Dec because I could imagine these things happening at a community pharmacy, but now that I actually am working there - they have a whole new meaning!

A Pharmacist's Guide to Patient Etiquette:

1. Be sure to stare at the pharmacist while your prescriptions are being filled. Staring at the pharmacist makes him or her work faster. [yesterday this mean old lady stood right in front of my computer while I was imputing her prescription and said "what is taking SO long young lady, do you have a problem?" tears welled up in my eyes...]
2. Never remember the name of the medications you are taking. By calling it "the little white pill," you are sure to receive the correct medication.
3. When calling in 8 prescriptions or more, always arrive at the pharmacy to pick them up within 10 minutes of calling. It's okay to hurry pharmacists. If they make a mistake, it won't kill you or anything. [they actually call us from the parking lot and then come thru the drive-thru 1 minute later thinking it will be ready - McDonald's doesn't even work that fast!]
4. Feel free to ask the pharmacy staff for the exact price of your prescription before it is filled. The staff should know every co-pay for every insurance plan.
6. Be sure to get upset about the co-pay. The co-pay is set on the whim of the pharmacist and has nothing to do with your insurance company.
9. Upon calling in a refill for a maintenance medication without refills, always question why the doctor has to be called when you've taken the medication for years. It is only a myth that prescription medications have to be ordered by medical doctors.
10. Always question why the insurance company does not want you to get your Synthroid 10 days too soon. After all, you pay $5 for it, so it's not like it costs more than that.
11. Over-the-counter displays are put there in order to entertain your children. Please encourage them to play with any item and even open one or two.
12. Make sure you save all of your old insurance cards. One of pharmacists' favorite games is to guess which one is current.
13. When you call in a prescription, just say, "I need to get my [name of drug] refilled." You can be sure the pharmacist will recognize your voice and know your prescription number by heart.
14. Pharmacists are some of the few people whose ears work independently. So when you see a pharmacist on the phone, feel free to just start talking -- his free ear will hear everything. [or start talking when they are counting #99 of a #120 order]
15. The pharmacist is the only person in the store is really capable of writing down your refill numbers, so when you call, demand to speak only to the pharmacist.
16. Try to do all your pharmacy business on a Monday. The pharmacist will appreciate it.
17. When walking up to the counter, just say, "Can I pick up my prescription?" Guessing who you are is another pharmacist game.
18. When there are several people ahead of you near the pick-up counter, always stand right at it [and even put your groceries down on it --]. The pharmacist will then know how important you are and fill your Rx first, and, if not, you can listen to juicy patient-pharmacist conversations.
19. If you are not asked for your insurance card, it means that the pharmacist wants to fill your prescription and then, after you are told how much it is, you can shout, "I have insurance." The pharmacist will love to do it over.
20. When you need a really old prescription filled, tell the pharmacist that you have a standing order for it. This works especially well if the doctor who wrote it is dead.
21. When you get a new insurance card, make sure you keep it a secret. The pharmacist would rather phone your old company to find out why your Rx claim is being rejected.
23. When you order your prescription refills and the pharmacist asks which ones, respond by saying, "All of them." He will know.
25. when asking for a refill on a pain medication, make sure you wait until the last one is gone and then try to call late on a Friday afternoon. It will be easy for the pharmacist to get in touch with the doctor to get a new Rx.

*I know this isn't funny to most non-pharmacy people, but it is good to see how the public acts in a pharmacy and the day-to-day issues we deal with...

Fun times at RiteAid

Well, someone got arrested at RiteAid Friday while I was there! Yep, gotta love retail work. The guy used a stolen id and check to buy his cigarettes. Smart guy he is, he dropped the id in the parking lot on his way out. Another customer turned it in. The guy calls back to see if we had his id and the clerk said, "yes, you can come get it!" In the mean time, she called the police, they found out he had 5+ warrants out for his arrest and they came to the store to wait on him. As soon as he walked in they arrested him. Quite a commotion...easter candy everywhere...the guy complaining that he will miss Easter this year if he goes to jail! Well, buddy, it looks like you will be missing several Easters if you think stealing other peoples money is okay. Seriously?

Lease signed

I sent off my signed lease today for the place in Charleston. So, it's official... I am very thankful the Lord provided this blessing!

Taxes

So, I did all of my taxes ALL BY MYSELF this year! I am super proud...can you tell? The first couple years post college, I shipped mine off with my parents. Last year I only had Kanakuk summer income, so my nice brother helped me do them online. This year, he left me to fend for myself. I was a baby at first about it, but I got on Turbotax and figured it all out...My negative income (little summer money + loans) gave me a $120 refund (and I didn't even pay any income tax...)! I also figured out how to get my Colorado state tax back. Success!

Retail rotation

I started my retail rotation at RiteAid this week. It is my first real experience in the retail world (except the student pharmacy)...and my last rotation in pharmacy school! Very unusual. Anyway, if I had written this blog on Monday, it would have been very negative because I HATED my first day! I didn't know how to do anything on the computer, little old ladies were yelling at me through the drive thru, operating the drive thru is dumb and the techs didn't teach me anything, instead just pushed all the buttons on the computer with out showing me. But, it has improved slightly since Monday. I'm not a big fan of my store or the pharmacist that works the opposite days of my preceptor, but I am learning and getting faster at operating retail pharmacy tasks. The 8-hour days are going by faster and I am glad I am not working the 12-hour shifts like the pharmacist. I think not getting paid/free labor is part of the problem - but I need to get over that, as it is part of my education! Only 21 more days...