Drop the phone....step away from the counter!

Alexander Graham Bell would be furious if he could stand behind any pharmacy counter for 5 minutes and see how his invention has spawned an unbelievable level of thoughtlessness by many of today's customers and their omnipresent cell phones.  I know there were impeccable rules of etiquette in the 19th century, way before cell phones became common place. I would very much like to see that sense of decency fast forwarded to the 21st century...Please!!! And the insults only get worse.  Seriously, who does this! Or, maybe the bigger question that begs to be asked is, "Why must they do it?"
When a pharmacist is attempting to counsel a patient on a drug that could at least, quickly improve quality of life, or at best save one, to me that is a big deal...not to overplay a druggist self importance or the medicine dispensed.  On the contrary, if warnings on  a drug's adverse side effects are not heeded, because an individual walks up to the counter on their cell phone discussing important topics that can't wait...for example, "Do you want me to pick up the Bacon Ranch Dressing or just the Regular?"...we have a problem.  In short, you might trade your daily helping of greens for a very bad day of drug side effects.
Or...here is one even better.  As the patient walks up to the counter to pick up their prescription, the cell phone goes off, they frantically pick it up and...the PHARMACIST "gets put on hold!"  "Oh, Mr Pharmacist, I need to get this...be with you in a minute! Really? I think you see where I am going with this. 
So...at the risk of sounding a little edgy on this one (it was a very difficult week at the pharmacy for me), I am pleading with all pharmacy patrons.  Please...give your favorite pharmacist a break!!  Listen carefully to what he or she has to say about your latest drug therapy.  Don't put that all critical bit of information "on hold!"  Be a great health advocate for yourself.  It is so easy in this case and not to sound to melodramatic...it might just save a life or the quality therein.

I'm begging your...drop the phone...step away from the counter! And please remember...."take as directed."

Blake

I am back...Why?

I am shocked!! I just noticed the date of my last blog posting. It is clearly evident that it has been so long since I vented, that I have lost the last two people in the world that were even remotely interested in my health care insights. And...quite frankly, I think they were close family members, just peeking in once in a while to see if my rants were turned down to a rolling boil. Hey, I am not angry a druggist, I'm just at an age where I don't suffer fools lightly and I might be a tad grumpy about the state of affairs behind the pharmacy counter, but at the end of the day, I would very much like to see a smarter pharmacy patient. All parties would benefit and I am betting my next paycheck, it would lead to big savings on the health care dollar. With frustration running high of late, today's writing is personally therapeutic and I suppose a little self-serving Hey...I can live with that! Maybe, I can slowly woo those few readers back with a few tips. I have seen the quality of writing from outspoken pharmacists on tons of topics; some whimsical, some tragic, and some very thought provoking. Given the right chance, I just might be able to find my little niche in the world of pharmacists that can both count to thirty and also comment on the issue at hand withouht leaving a dangling participle. There is nothing wrong in wrappping up a "pet-peeve" in a small box of "edginess", is there? I want to get the readers attention, but I don't desire to be obnoxious about the whole affair. So.... True to my mantra of the 3 "Bs," I shall Be Brief, Be Brilliant, and Be Gone. I ask a simple question to all of us pharmacy partons who just might have been guilty of the following breaches of etiquette. I want to simply ask..."Why?" -Why do we wait until Friday evening to request a prescription refill with NO refills, knowing full well we are "leaving town for the weekend?" or better still, "in a couple of hours?" -Why do we think the pharmacy dictates the price our insurance company is charging us for our prescriptions? -Why do we think that a pharmacist will fill our prescription faster if we stand at the pick-up window, pounding out Morse Code with our debit card? -Why do we and the pharmacist count 30 days differently when it comes to Hydrocodone/APAP prescriptions that must last 1 month between refills? -Why do we think that our physician requires an insurance card at time of service, but is unnecessary at our local drug store? -Why do we think that pharmacists learned an extra skill set in pharmacy school as a grocery checker? -Why is that we feel okay about calling our pharmacist and requesting to refill "all the usual prescriptions I usually get every month?" -Why do we think that in the pharmacy, 20 minutes actually means 5 minutes in prescription processing time? -Why do we think that a pharmacist can easily fill our prescription 5 minutes before the closing hour, because we are sure he doesn't want to get home after spending 10 straight hours on his feet? -Why do we feel the necessity on arriving at the prescription drop-off window to immediately stick our head inwards and yell at the top of our voice, "Yoo-Who!" as if those 2 seconds of wait time on our part was extremely unreasonable? -Why do we think our local pharmacist is obligated to solve our mail-order pharmacy problems and many others that he or she might not be qualified to do so? (I do believe that is a dangling partiple situation!) Okay...I think I have made myself clear and not too insulting. Next time you fill that prescription, feel a little for that overworked guy in the white labcoat...and remember, Take as Directed! blake