Here, there, and everywhere....

Last night's shift reminded me why it is important to try to stay with one pharmacy so your pharmacist can get to know you and help you keep track of your medications. A very sick patient came to us with a
prescription for oxycodone . This patient had a legitimate need for pain medication. Unfortunately, when
we checked the INSPECT report (a report the state has set up that tracks the use of controlled substances), this patient had visited 7 different doctors and 12 different pharmacies in the last few months. This, and the fact that the patient had filled a prescription for oxycodone 15mg (he was given 2 prescriptions, one for February and one for March), after his doctor wrote a new prescription for 20mg , sent up a red flag.

Fortunately this patient's physician is a very kind and caring doctor, and called to help with this patients predicament. We were able to reach a compromise that allowed the patient to get a partial supply of medication until his doctor could meet with him and they could work on his plan for pain management.

Pharmacy loyalty is often complicated by the large chain pharmacies, who offer incentives to transfer their prescriptions, like gift cards, $4 prescriptions and free antibiotics.  We don't blame the patients for wanting to take advantage of these offers, but it does cause prescriptions to be scattered between several different pharmacies. The other hidden problem is that these transfers are done over the phone from one pharmacist to another. This archaic system is another place for errors to occur, particularly if there is a language barrier (some pharmacists have a very heavy accent), the phone line is fuzzy, the pharmacy is loud, or the transferring pharmacist talks too rapidly or softly to be understood. While I am transferring prescriptions in this manner, I am of course unavailable to check prescriptions and answer patients questions, as is the pharmacist on the other end of the line.

If you need to use different pharmacies for whatever reason, please write out a list of your medications, directions and strength of the drug so we can copy it into your profile for reference purposes.

I don't have to work this weekend, so I am signing off. Happy Easter!

BP