Comments on: My Doctor is Prescribing Medicine That Doesn’t Exist

By: kosmo

kosmo — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:02:49 +0000

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.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:14:16 +0000

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.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:27:34 +0000

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

By: Kelly Turner

Kelly Turner — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:55:07 +0000

oh man, I would have been so pissed. Its kind of scary if you think about it.

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Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:23:40 +0000

[...] Lazy Man and Health says My Doctor is Prescribing Medicine That Doesn’t Exist [...]

By: asithi

asithi — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 22:42:41 +0000

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.

By: James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H. — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:14:28 +0000

All I can say is that I empathize. A computer program would help, but not eliminate hassels and errors.

By: Kym

Kym — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:02:43 +0000

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.

By: Rini

Rini — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:53:07 +0000

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…

By: CJ

CJ — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:22:42 +0000

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.