This is a true story

Actual conversation between a pharmacist and a nurse.
-Phone Rings
RPh – “Hello, this is the pharmacy.”
RN – “Yes, hello. I am calling to inquire about Mr. Xs medication.”
RPh – “OK, what’s going on?”
RN – “Well, the problem is this: He’s supposed to get 20 mg of this medication, but you guys sent me a 40 mg tablet.”
Rph – “OK, so what’s the problem?”
RN – “Well now, that’s not the correct dosage.”
Rph – heavy sigh…. “Here’s what you do… Take the tablet, break it in half across the score in the middle and give half the tablet to the patient.”
RN – long pause…. “Which half?”
This is the type of crap that scares the hell outta me.

Comments #

Comment by Dan on 2006-04-30 12:07:13 -0700 #

Scary doesn’t even begin to describe it. I hate to say this because I’m a foreigner myself, but foreign physicians sometimes scare me even more.

Comment by SL on 2007-10-27 17:33:30 -0700 #

I would be frightened to be a patient in a hospital:
Nurse: Dr. just wrote for D10W NS. I have a bag that says d10w, is that the same?
Me: No D10W is D10w. The bag you are looking for should say D10w and normal saline.
Nurse: But my bag does say d10w for injection. Isn’t that same as NS?
me: ??????

Comment by Erin on 2010-08-10 22:19:25 -0700 #

Hey now, as an RN I can tell you that there are just as many stupid pharmacists as nurses. I frequently spend all shift calling the same pharmacist on one patient’s med list. One night they sent me a medication list with epidural order (pt not on an epidural), med orders from another pt admitted at the same time, my patient’s correct meds, and lovenox (should never be given with an epidural.) WTF?

Comment by Nate on 2010-11-19 21:27:52 -0800 #

That’s what we call an ERROR. Adding a wrong medication to a list is a dispensing mistake, doctors make even more. The RN in the post is just plain stupid, I can barely believe it.
I only let nurses I know administer to my own friends. I’ve seen RNs who don’t even know how to do a simple blood extraction, damaging puncture sites and med students who actually do better their first time. Some of them don’t even know that RPhs have licenses