My Doctor is Prescribing Medicine That Doesn’t Exist |
10 Comments |
On Friday I had an interesting experience. I went to pick up a prescription that I dropped off on Thursday. At the time they said it would be ready in a half hour if I wanted to wait. I told them to take their time, I’d be back tomorrow. They were pretty happy with that.
So it’s Friday and I go to pick it up. As luck would have it, the same pharmacy technician from yesterday is there to help me again today. The conversation went like this:
Me: I’m hear to pick up my prescription
Her: Name?
Me: [says name]
Her: [After looking in the computer..] looks like you are not in here.
Me: I dropped it off yesterday…
Her: I know, I took your prescription yesterday myself.
Me: Sooo…
Her: Let me look again.
Me: [waiting]
Her: Ahh here’s the problem, the product that your doctor wrote doesn’t exist
Me: That’s kind of crazy, I told my wife who is a pharmacist about it, and she recognized it immediately.
Her: Well, it doesn’t come in a lotion.
Me: What does it come in? Is it an ointment? Are we just splitting hairs? [It's clearly a topical cream of some sort.]
Her: We have to get a clarification from the doctor any time it doesn’t match.
Me: [with sarcasm] Great, and they are out of the office for one of the typical three day weekends! (My doctor’s office is closed every Wednesday, and this week they took off this Friday too. It has to be nice to work three day weeks.)
This could have been easily fixed if there was some kind electric prescription system. Such a system wouldn’t allow a doctor to write a prescription for something that doesn’t exist… or at the very least it should ask twice to make sure that the doctor really wants to do that. Another advantage to a system like this is that I wouldn’t have to drop off the prescription. I know this system is coming, but I really hope it comes faster. Sometimes it feels like health care is stuck in 1982 when it could be at least in 2001.
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This post deals with:health care dollars, pharmacist, pharmacy technician, topical cream
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November 3rd, 2008 at 8:22 am
As a rule I do trust pharmacists more than doctors seeing as how a pharmacist saved my life by being aware that I at age 7 didn’t need an adult dose of a medication.
But the last time I had a problem at the pharmacist I thought it was the doctor’s fault. But when I went to my next appointment, they showed me their computer system that showed the prescription had been sent three times. The next day I switched pharmacies.
I agree that a standardized electronic system would prevent mistakes like this. But don’t be so quick to assume that your doctor wrote down something that didn’t exist. The pharmacist might not know what they’re talking about.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:53 am
I had a doctor once that would call the pharmacy to “drop off” the prescription for me. It still wasn’t a perfect system, but it was very convenient, and would certainly prevent errors like this one…
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Wow, that is absolutely ridiculous. I hope that gets fixed for you without too much more time or hassle. My first name is spelled weirdly, and my doctor wrote down my correct spelling on a prescription. The pharmacy chose to spell it wrong and then didn’t want to fix it. When I went to refill it they told me I wasn’t the same person and I’d have to bring a new prescription! Ridiculous.
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
All I can say is that I empathize. A computer program would help, but not eliminate hassels and errors.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I actually like how my doctor automatically send my prescription to the pharmacy on the computer they have at every room. I usually just stop by my pharmacy (Rite Aid) in an hour to pick it up. So far the system has worked well for me.
November 9th, 2008 at 5:23 am
[...] Lazy Man and Health says My Doctor is Prescribing Medicine That Doesn’t Exist [...]
November 9th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
oh man, I would have been so pissed. Its kind of scary if you think about it.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:27 am
Be careful what you wish for!
I might come true and you could find out that it does have side-effects making you longing for old times
A poster from Germany - with a health system where everything is defined by bureaucracy
Here a doctor might prescribe something, but defined by rules you will get something different (but defined similar) - well would be too long to explain
November 18th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I just want to take out the human error in prescriptions. I’m not wishing that you get something different, just that when the doctor prescribes something, it’s a product that the pharmacy can supply.
November 18th, 2008 at 8:02 am
My grocery store has a great pharmacy. Prescriptions rarely take more than 10 minutes (during which time I can shop for groceries). The actual drug stores in town have quite a bit longer waits (30-60 minutes, during which time I wander the aisles and leaf through magazines).
And if you really, really want to wait, go to the pharmacy within the local hospital (a very well respected hospital in the region). It is common for people to wait for HOURS for a prescription. People assume that it would be quicker to grab their prescription on the way out the door from their doctor visit, but it would actually be MUCH faster to drive to any number of local pharmacies.
When my wife was an inpatient last year, we had to go to the pharmacy to pick something up (it was a weird case where the hospital staff couldn’t dispense the item). While we were there, one lady just about blew her top - and commented to others that she had previous altercations with the staff. Obviously, everybody gave psycho lady a very wide berth - but people could understand where her frustration was coming from.