Just what can a Pharmacist do, Part I
I promised this post awhile back. I am not sure if anyone actually cares or not. However, considering all of the perplexed looks that I get from people when I say that I am not sure if I will pursue retail pharmacy or not, I feel that it is appropriate to once and for all write about many of the avenues that pharmacists have as their job choices.
I will start today with one that everyone knows and most everyone thinks of when they hear the word, pharmacist: Retail Pharmacist (AKA: community pharmacist).
The community pharmacists are one of the most accessible health care providers to the public. They work at the well known drug stores, grocery stores, and independent drug stores. These pharmacist fit the common idea of what people consider to be a pharmacist. They help patients assess their conditions and help make decisions about over the counter products. Importantly, they are involved in reviewing scripts written by health care providers (most of the time attempting to discern what the provider has scribbled on the paper) and making sure that drug interactions, correct doses, and overall correctness of the drug prescribed are taken care of. The overall aspect of the job is to get the patients their correct medication(s) and make sure that they leave knowing how and why they take their medications.
The following entails some of my reasoning as to why I am not sure that retail pharmacy is for me.
A typical day for a retail pharmacist often involves:
Unhappy customers who become disrespectful customers very quickly
Rejected claims which in turn makes unhappy customers and so on and so forth
Pharm Tech mistakes. They happen.
Printer jams. They happen more.
Refill-too-soons. Just writing this hurts me.
Insurance claim issues. Insurance companies have contracts with the devil.
Minutes, hours, days on the telephone and its not speaking to my loved ones….
The fact that I went to school for 8 years and I would still have to memorize these sayings:
“This medication is non-formulary.” Followed by a blank stare from the customer who is wondering what a formulary is.
“I don’t know why the won’t pay for it.”
“I have no idea why your co-pay is $15.00.”
“I can’t refill this until next Tuesday.”
“Most insurance companies won’t reimburse for pills accidentally dropped in the toilet.”
“40mg? No, Doctor, they don’t make a 40mg tablet. 50mg? Sure, ok.”
“Hi, this is XYZ pharmacy. I need to talk to Dr. ABC because I can’t read what he wrote.”
And the most irritating of all, “I do not know what aisle the Beyond Support Knee Highs are in. I work in the pharmacy.”
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