Today I was filling in at a pharmacy where the pharmacist was a floater that day. He was rather funny, making lots of jokes and seemed like a pretty likeable fella. Until he said that the job of a pharmacy technician (which is what I am) could be done by a monkey! That comment was quite insulting, and I hope to never work with such an insensitive guy like that again! I happen to have two college degrees and had to go through special training to be a nationally certified pharmacy technician, and this guy likens me to a monkey? I don’t think so!
Yesterday I was working at a store that I don’t normally work for. I’ve been there a few times, working as a substitute. It’s always interesting to see how other stores are run. This store was very friendly (which is good because many of them are not quite friendly. Not rude, just not friendly!) Anyway, the pharmacist that was working there is a very nice person and means well. You can tell he really cares. But every now and then he pushes the legal envelope and I have concerns that he is going to end up fired and prosecuted for some of the things he has done. The worst part is that he realizes that he could get in trouble and does it anyway. I don’t like overhearing him tell people that he could get in trouble for doing something and then doing it anyway. Makes me very uncomfortable! I wonder how many other pharmacists out there do the same thing.
I’ve been struggling to get enough hours in at the pharmacy to pay my bills. I enjoy the work, but I really need more hours! So in addition to volunteering to be a floater/substitute I’ve been applying for jobs at other pharmacies. I’m both state and nationally certified, but I am having trouble landing a better job. I keep hearing that pharmacy technician work is going to be in demand, so I’m trying to hang on tight! Part of the problem I’m facing is that the hospital jobs that pay well force you to work crazy hours. I wouldn’t mind working days OR nights but not that rotating stuff that makes you crazy!
Last night a woman came in for some medical advice. I find it interesting how many people come to the pharmacy to ask for medical advice before calling their doctors!
This woman was concerned that her bi-polar daughter might be pregnant. She had her tubes tied a few years ago, but was now displaying all of the symptoms of pregnancy. So the mother came in to ask if it was possible she was pregnant. Knowing that I’m not allowed by law to give medical advice, I was skating on thin ice. So I told her that I had a girl friend who had her tubes tied and got pregnant a few years later anyway, so yes it was possible.
So then she asked what should she do. I told her to buy one of the early pregnancy test kits and use it to find out if the daughter really is pregnant. I told her that there are other medical conditions that could mimic pregnancy, but she should do the test kit and then call her doctor. She thanked me for my advice and told me that she hoped it was one of the other medical conditions and not pregnancy. I kept my mouth shut at that point, other than telling her to consult the doctor. To the best of my knowledge the other medical conditions that can mimic pregnancy are not good at all. I think pregnancy would be preferable!
After the woman left I apologized to the pharmacist for not asking her to come and counsel the patient. She was within earshot the whole time. She told me that I told the woman exactly what she would have told her, but next time to call her into the conversation. She was nice about it, but I felt bad anyway.
Yesterday I worked with an elderly pharmacist. He was 87 years old. He’s a nice enough guy and I enjoyed working with him, but I have some concerns that he needs more help than he should need to be working this job. Several times I found he was mixing up the customer’s orders – putting one customer’s medicines in the same bag as another patients medicines! If I hadn’t caught that before the order was hung up in the will call section we never would have found the first customer’s order!
And then there was the irate customer who was upset about some kind of problem that happened a few days before (thank goodness I wasn’t involved!) He said he was taking all of his business somewhere else and demanded a print-out of all of his and his wife’s medication history to take with him. So even though I cautioned the pharmacist that HIPPA rules prohibited us from giving him his wife’s medication history the pharmacist gave them to him anyway!
I sure hope that wasn’t a set-up to get the pharmacy in legal trouble!