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The true story about Retail Pharmacists and Twitter Doctors

·6874 words·33 mins
Doctors and Stuff Pharmacists
Table of Contents

Ive been asked on more than one occasion (by MDs), why the ‘Angry Doctors’ on Twitter have such a strong Pharmacist following.  Since I have undertaken the task of being the official spokesperson of Pharmacy on twitter, I decided to turn this answer into a well though out response vs a 120 character tweet.

If you’re looking for profanity, slurs against the downtrodden, just skip over this whole post.  This is a post to generate discussion about a real issue that us retail Pharmacists have with our MD counterparts.  Yes yes, I know that the past few posts I have been quite uppity and boring about some issues going around, but fear not, the poop-talk is coming.

What I shall grace before you is from my own experiences only.  Although I represent a voice of pharmacy, I cannot speak for every pharmacist (although I do damn near get all of them to agree with me).  I want the MD’s in the audience to think about this article, because its not meant to inflict harm, just bring to light exactly how us in retail feel we are perceived by you.

  • Whenever we call for a clarification, you are “in the room with a patient”.  We are unable to speak with you directly.  Even if its about issues that can get you in serious trouble, like forgeries/stolen pads or narcotic shoppers.  We speak with your “nurse” who gives the message to you.  While we are waiting for your “Nurse” we have a line out the door and the hospital on the other line calling in discharge medications, yet we patiently wait.  Your “Nurse” then gives us a response which is totally different than the original question, obviously there was a miscommunication between us and your translator which wastes both of our time.  We feel that your time is worth FAR FAR greater than ours since you can’t spare 30 seconds to have a conversation with us even though we are treating the same patient.  We feel like our concerns about OUR patients (which if we are calling you, its a concern, we dont have time to just piss away) take a backseat to everything else in your office.
  • On your answering machine or answering service, you give a option for doctors or hospitals to get an express route to you.  Yet you do not give pharmacists an option.  Since we respect you (and aren’t a hospital or doctor), we are thrown into the call pool with your patients to be answered by a staff, who transfers to another staff, to transfers us to your nurses voicemail box, all while your patient is feeling ill and just wants to get the antibiotics (thats not covered) and go home.  All of our IVR systems give you an express hotline to us, yet the courtesy is not returned.
  • When we see you at the CE dinners, we introduce ourselves only to be shunned by you chatting with your MD friends.  When you do actually talk to us, you don’t ask us how we’re doing; you ask us to pass the wine, or to fetch you something.  We introduce you to our fellow pharmacists, yet you dont even extent the common courtesy to introduce us to the other doctors.  We treat the same patients, we are on the same team.
  • When is the last time you spoke with a pharmacist that you do a lot of business with.  Not just call in prescriptions or yell, but actually ask how they are doing.  Have you ever offered to have a cocktail after work with them? We would gladly treat you to cocktails after work, yet we never get the chance to speak with you to extend the offer.  Do you even know what their name is? I guarantee that your local pharmacist knows what your first name is, shouldn’t you respect him/her and do the same?  You do treat the same patients.
  • Pharmacists, on the other hand, talk to each other.  We ask how we are doing when giving transfers.  We go out for cocktails after work.  We warn each other about forgeries.  Even ones who are in direct competition have a fraternal-like bond regarding reimbursement rates and looking out for each other.
  • Pharmacists have a closer relationship with your front end staff than we do the MD that employs them.  We know your nurses, they know us.  We laugh and crack snide jokes about our patients who want yet another refill for that prometh w/ codeine.

Notice a trend here?  Retail pharmacists get scooted to the side by MD’s in all aspects of our job.  Now compare this with the angry doctors on twitter, who openly joke, converse, and treat pharmacists there as equals.  Do you see why they have such a huge following? Do you see WHY pharmacist jumped to the defense of a faceless, nameless anesthesiologist who was bullied by an MD who seems like he fits the above description?  The doctors on twitter are the doctors that pharmacist love.  They don’t put us on hold or communicate to us via a 3rd party, they speak directly to us.  They are approachable and friendly.  I can send one a message and not wonder if they will ever get back to me because they will.  I don’t need to watch what I say around them for fear of getting the “oh he’s just a pharmacist” eye-roll and subsequent ignoring.  They are people, real people, like us.  If you, the stereotypical MD, treat a fellow professional like us this way, how are you treating your patients?

I regularly go drinking with a NP and an MD friend of mine from a hospital nearby, and we discussed this whole issue about retail pharmacy and the local docs.  They, working in solely a hospital setting, had no idea that this huge gap between us existed.  They thought that all the docs in the area called up their local pharmacist and ask questions as basic as whats covered, to a suggestion for suitable beta-blocker for a patient with a low CrCl.  They wondered how you can practice medicine safely without asking advice from someone who is knowledgeable about medication.

I find it interesting, that pharmacists; most if not all have doctorates, who went to school, studied, and work with drugs for a living, are ignored in general by your average MD (except when the patient bitches the “pharmacy wouldn’t fill what you wrote”, only to be yelled at by the MD because the drug wasn’t covered and costs $400).  We are on the opposite side of the same coin, and ultimately the person who suffers the most is the person who is generating the revenue so we both can eat.

Part of this is the fault of pharmacists in general.  Most of us really don’t have the time/balls to stand up for ourselves when push comes to shove regarding MD’s and medication therapies.  We have allowed ourselves to be walked upon for decades.  Ask a pharmacist who graduated in the 70’s what doctors were like back then (shout the orders, slam down the phone, “just fill the fucking prescription”).  However the tides are turning.  Residents are being taught to ask us for advice.  There are too many drugs and conditions now for one profession to master every small aspect of both fields.

I’m really not bitching per-se, just letting you all know what your image is like on the other side of the fence.  Do I expect this to magically change with one blog post? No.  Behavior that has been refined over the past 100 years can’t change overnight.  I hope this brings some insight on why the docs on twitter have such a strong pharmacy following.

Comments #

Comment by Dr. Grumpy on 2011-05-28 15:14:59 -0700 #

All solid points. I agree, and it’s sad that so many docs do treat you guys as inferior.

Comment by Erin on 2011-05-28 16:15:32 -0700 #

This is a great post and very thoughtfully written. Having worked as a lowly tech in both hospital and retail, the level of respect for pharmacy (even for a tech) in the hospital setting is amazing. You’re correct, pharmacists don’t stand up for themselves, and view they, too, are far too busy to do so. Instead, it reverts back to a high school environment of admiring (??) the “popular crowd” from afar. You have a new follower!

Comment by Rx_Intern on 2011-05-28 21:11:39 -0700 #

This is pure gold. I have worked as a pharm tech and now am working as an intern fr the past 6 years. The way in which the information has been presented is accurate, respectful, and most importantly, relevant! Very well done…very well done indeed!

Comment by PharmStudent on 2011-05-28 23:19:03 -0700 #

I’ve actually found it different than the second to last paragraph of the post. My father & grandfather were both pharmacists, and I’ve heard numerous examples of them collaborating with the MD in a personalized manner to best serve the patient with their pharmacotherapy. My father has said on many occasions that he feels the trend is towards not consulting the RPh, rather than the opposite. In my work as a tech (prior to entering pharmacy school) I saw the same thing. I hope this is an exception and not the rule.

Comment by EMrRed on 2011-05-29 14:45:25 -0700 #

I’ve observed that lack of confidence or insecurity (of a provider) sometimes brings out the flippant or derogatory remarks towards pharmacists, possibly as a technique to deflect the true issue. It would be fun to invite some of those MD’s out for a beer and play “stump the pharmacist” with drug info.

Also, we spent time in a variety of settings during pharmacy school (hospitals, ambulatory clinics, etc.) – I believe MD’s would benefit from spending just a few days in a retail pharmacy setting. They’re intelligent and will quickly understand what our challenges are. Small changes could make a big difference.

Comment by PharmDmommy on 2011-05-29 14:56:08 -0700 #

Well done! I agree with everything you said. The way certain MD’s look down on us lowly PharmD’s is horrible. It is so bad that I have a father in law who is an MD and he treats my degree like I saved 3 proofs of purchase from some Pop Tart boxes and sent them with $5.95 s/h to recieve a shiny certificate and a lab coat in the mail. The comments he has made about pharmacists not being smart enough or having enough drug knowledge to do anything more then count and pour are disparaging. If my own FIL can’t be nice about it imagine when you aren’t related to him. But it’s just typical of the subset of the “real doctors” who think they are better then the world.

I wonder if within the MD world if these guys are the ones that torture students instead of teaching, feel superior to their MD collegues based upon their specility or where they went to school, treat RN’s like orderlies etc… I would not be surprised.

I will say some of the best MDs as far as being team players and treating everyone with respect I have noticed are younger and did their training in the South. There are a few who moved to my area and they love RPh’s, call back themselves, joke around, ask how you are, and ask for drug rec’s. Always makes my day to talk to one of them!

Comment by ALB on 2011-05-29 16:44:55 -0700 #

While I do agree that doctors treat us much more poorly these days compared to even 10 years ago, I find that a lot of it has followed the grocerization of chain pharmacies. We are quick becoming a joke, with $4 and $10 plans or free antibiotics. Yes, people had problems with the high cost of medications, but when we used to say “$59.99” for cipro, people did not lose the message that our services cost because we are a medical facility. A PROFESSION. Now we’re seen as discount-offering twits. Patients treat us as such, and so do doctors. Doctors shouldn’t but they are clearly affected by this shift in the automization and grocerization of pharmacy.

Our employers, at chains, do not care a bit about our becoming marginalized. Example, we just got word that we’ll be splitting the verification process into 2 steps, where the dose-checking, DUR, and sig checking, etc., will be done by one pharmacist and the second pharmacist will just verify the drug image and that the tech filled it with the proper pill. Soon, based on this becoming a new norm, we will have someone off-site doing the first step, and we’ll do the pill checking and consulting only right here at the store, which will mean less need for pharmacists locally. Or at least it’s possible. And the big bosses do not care. And the doctors sense this joke the profession is becoming.

You make good points indeed, but I do not think it’s as surely doctor ego as it is a bunch of things causing a convergence of lessening opinion for us pharmacists.

Also, on the subject of most pharmacists having doctorates, not most I know but many. But what I do see is that the new doctorate graduates are no more prepared than we veteran BSers are to assert themselves as the profession we deserve to be treated as. Accepting the immunization burden was a big mistake, IMO.

I look forward to others’ opinions on this.

Comment by CANADIAN_PHARM on 2011-05-29 20:14:47 -0700 #

I guess I am fortunate. I get invited to many of the MD-only talks, because they appreciate my brand of counter-detailing- where I give them the real deal on those useless me too drugs that the drug pimps are pushing. Perhaps b/c I am in a small community or perhaps b/c I haven’t said “I told you so” when one of my recommedations have been dismissed. Every point you have raised has been valid. In the words of Rodney King, “why can’t we all just get along”

Comment by Cynicalpharmacist on 2011-05-29 20:48:21 -0700 #

By the way, when these uppity MDs are dragged into court due to misprescribing a drug (see metoclopromide) they are the ones to whine, “I had no idea, but would have listened if the pharmacist had warned me…” when he had months before responded “just fill the rx”

Comment by Dr Samit Bali on 2011-05-29 22:12:48 -0700 #

Great Post!!I can certainly feel your anguish more as my brother is a Pharmacist.
Most of things apply in this part of world.

Comment by gunga din on 2011-05-30 08:18:37 -0700 #

I agree but I dont care what degree you have if you work retail your clinical skills will suffer.
I dont think physicians are especially arrogant anymore than some pharmacists are.There are jerks in any field although many of the worst end up politicians and DMs.I wouldnt feel slighted by physicians a CE meetings,When I go I tend to talk to other pharmacists just because we have more in commonn. Thats just human nature

Comment by namelessrecentgrad on 2011-05-31 01:37:06 -0700 #

So if any pharmacist is paying attention to this post, I have a request. Over the years as a student I have enjoyed these posts, but having recently finished pharmacy school I guess I can help express the feelings from a students perspective. Some people I know seem scared almost senseless about whether they picked the right profession, and some are downright cynical and I witnessed the enthusiasm they held at the beginning of the program almost vanish completely. Even saw a school wide distributed e-mail cursing the school and trying to expose some extremely shady actions by several of the faculty and students in school. Despite most of this other students I know have tried to remain resolute in knowing this will be a rewarding career. Maybe I am worrying too much, and possibly taking this site too seriously. But can I request to hear just more specific positive aspects of our future field? Here are some specific examples: NAPLEX/Law exams, how to possibly further the field (i.e. Can the retail setting incorporate some clinical elements successfuly?), or how comfortable living in our economy with our estimated income can be. Like I said most of us honestly try not to be too worried, but it would just be nice to hear some reassuring aspects for a change. Thank you for your time.

Comment by Pharmacy intern on 2011-05-31 15:17:26 -0700 #

Great Great post, I’am a grad intern now, but has been around pharmacies and doctors since I was 12, and it is time for us pharmacist to get the respect we deserve back.
And most of the Docs on twitter are doing a great job respecting and appreciating what we do and will continue to do.
Thanks for the post, looking forward to more posts.
Intern.

Comment by mdb on 2011-05-31 17:15:09 -0700 #

I work in retail and I’ve found some MDs can be great but an equal number can be real jerks. I especially hate the IVR systems of some offices in my area that say “If you are a pharmacist, press 3” and you don’t even get say the nurse let alone a doctor but the stupid refill request mailbox that is checked like once every 4 days. It also pisses me off if I call the office because the doc or someone was either careless or an idiot and sent over an e-script for a patient that is allergic to lisiniopril (anaphylaxis) and the stupid script is for lisinopril, and it takes the office till 5pm to return the call when I called at like 9am.

Comment by Kirk on 2011-05-31 23:52:10 -0700 #

I like your blog. I think I was linked here from Instapundit a while ago and kept the link. I am just a patient, but reading what you write sure helps me understand what is going on better, inside the building I visit.

I think you would like to work at a US military pharmacy. I have been getting my prescriptions from pharmacies on USAF bases for 22 years. The only time I actually spoke to a pharmacist was when I was picking up a bucket of my wifes cancer medicines including large amounts of oxycodone. All other times was an unpaid volunteer or civilian counter help. She always made her way to the counter to ask how my wife was doing unless she was too busy to do anything but smile and wave from in back. The pharmacist was obviously too busy and too important to do the unskilled labor. I say that with admiration, not malice.

The military pharmacies are always too busy, and seem to be made of four brick walls with no openings, no phone lines except the refill line, and a few windows where a person gets the brown paper bag checks your ID, checks the precription names, and asks you to sign. Doctors from off base cannot call about anything; at least I have never had a doctor report success. You have to bring paper scripts TO the window in all cases, from off base. Heck, sometimes they decline offbase scripts if they feel like it, only filling them if they are generated from within the hospital.

I want to thank Pharmacists in general, for saving my wifes life from a very close brush with death from cancer. I cannot even recall all the drugs that were pumped into her chest port over a year. The whole US health care system as it is now seems like the cutting edge of western civilization. Pharmacists, surgeons, primary care doctors, specialists, all you guys have my thanks for doing what you do. What if none of you had labored to learn what you did? What if less of you do? I shudder to think it.

Best Regards,
Kirk

Comment by parttimethankgod on 2011-06-02 00:43:13 -0700 #

I find that in general, some of the older, longer-practicing docs in my community are VERY friendly. I actually have had more problems with young doctors, and even more with PAs and CNPs! (Gotta love it when the patient yells “You’re not my Doctor!” and I have to bite my tongue to avoid saying, “Actually, I AM your doctor – I went to school twice as long as your prescriber.”)

Quite a few prescribers here have office policies that the pharmacist is NOT allowed to leave a voicemail or speak directly to the physician unless the physician initiates the phone call. I have probably filled thousands of prescriptions from one CNP in particular – and have never once heard her voice. I have the same problem with “nursing” staff getting the question and therefore answer totally wrong. I’m not asking prescribers to drop everything to talk to me – but when its clear their staff can’t reliably pass on a message, the system is BROKEN.

Comment by Maddison on 2011-06-03 03:48:50 -0700 #

MORALLY CONFLICTED…LOL

I first decided that I wanted to be a Pharmacist when I found out that they make 10,000 a month. I was like “YEAH!!! Thats for me. Plus I’m super smart when it comes to science and math (even though I’m sometimes bored with it). But before making that 6yr commitment I decided to become a Pharmacy Technician first, to get an idea of what I would be doing everyday. During my externship as a pharmacy technician is when I decided that “teching” was not for me. I rotated in outpatient pharmacy for two months. Honestly it was like working in fast food. I would read the prescription, count out the pills, bottle the pills, label the bottle, bag the bottle…I did this over and over again for 8 hrs straight every day. IT WAS THE MOST BORING JOB EVER!!! My best days were when I had to do compounding:) That was fun. But those kind of prescriptions rarley came in. The craziest thing was that Pharmacists were doing the same job that I was doing but for more pay…obviously.

Basically, after my externship I went and took the exam and now I am a registered and board certified Pharmacy Technician. But I refuse to work in a pharmacy because it is way to repetative…no excitement at all…just bright lights and pill dust.LOL. I actually thought about going back to school to become a Registered Dietician (RD). I LOVE the work they do…its so rewarding. And if everyone was to follow the advice of a RD, less people on medication in the first place.

BUT, the only thing is that RD’s only make 40,000-60,000 a year. On the other hand I could go back to school to become a Pharmacist and make 80,000-120,000 a year. It’s a hard decision because even though I would Love to be a Dietician they don’t make much…and even though I find a Pharmacist job to be outright repetative, they make a lot of money. I am raising two of my younger siblings and I want to put them through college when they graduate high school which is about 9-10 yrs from now. Plus, I was poor growing up and I want a better life for all of us. I also want to make enough money so that I can give back to my community. But I also want to be happy and fullfilled in my career. What is a girl to do???? Any Suggestions???

Thanx:)

Comment by pharminpills on 2011-06-04 11:30:38 -0700 #

If you’re thinking of doing pharmacy for the money, you’ve chosen the wrong profession. Dentistry, optometry, and medicine deal with less crap than we do as pharmacists. Besides, we make the lower end of the health profession salary. Dentistry can make up to 1 million dollars a year.

Comment by samskeyti on 2011-06-04 16:48:04 -0700 #

maddison, don’t become a pharmacist if you think all it is is boring and repetitive… but would be okay with it because of the money. never do it for the money, especially when you’re dealing with people’s lives.

Comment by rph3664 on 2011-06-06 21:21:24 -0700 #

If you interview for pharmacy school and you tell them you’re in it for the money, they won’t admit you. Being a registered dietitian is probably a better fit for you, then.

Have you considered hospital pharmacy? It’s nothing like retail.

Comment by Eli on 2011-06-12 19:54:57 -0700 #

Why Does New York State Medicaid pay for Vusion Ointment.A $275.00 diaper rash
preparation.All it is is a combination of vaseline,zinc oxide, and miconazole.
I’m a pharmacist from Brooklyn,Ny and I dispense it almost daily on medicaid.
It just does not make any sense.The roads and streets where i live and commute
are in awful condition and here our government is pissing away money on ass cream.
There are many examples like this for example Tazorac, Doryx, Taclonex, Protopic,
and brand anything when generics are available.

Comment by bcmigal on 2011-06-17 20:54:11 -0700 #

I usually do not get pissed off at MDs, but since today was the day from hell (one tech had the day off and the other 2 have been with us less than a week!) I decided to make an exception. Half hour into the shift , a pain doc called and wanted to know why we would not fill a Lyica rs that was not written on a “secure” blank. “Since when is Lyrica a controlled substance and since when is a secure blank required for a med other than a C-2 ?”, he bellowed. SInce the DHS and the DEA agreed to release Lyrica as a C – 5 in 2005 and since the state of California declared that ALL controls be on secure blanks in 2004. (Where the heck have you been, you idiot!?) . Still not convinced, he demanded that I fax him that portion of the H&S code. ( How about you go to CA.gov , you MDeity, and read the law yourself!) I only wish have written what I was really thinking in the margins!

Comment by angrygraduate on 2011-06-30 01:44:06 -0700 #

I hope to make you all proud as I inform you that as a student on rounds, it was my mission to make MD/DO’s realize how stupid they are when it comes to presribing as I corrected them, it wasn’t in private, but rather exposed in full light…why shouldn’t pharmacists take the credit??! Yes, I the pharm student corrected you the med student (who I even asked “how are u comfortable prescribing?”, intern, resident, fellow, and dare I say attending! It was little moments of pure pleasure-filled gloating on behalf of all my intelligent and knowledgeable pharmacists! I love u guys, we rock!

Comment by LTCPharm on 2011-07-02 02:05:07 -0700 #

Yeah I agree. And I work in LTC, so you would think they would talk to us since almost 100% of these patients are on 10+ meds. Today I had a phenytoin rx – pt had previously been on 300mg/day, level came back as 6, so MD decided to write for 800mg/day. What the f*ck?? If you don’t know what the hell you’re doing with kinetics, just give us a call and ask us to help you dose it.

Also had a patient on call one time that needed an emergency fill for morphine and MD hung up on me twice. Meanwhile the patient was laying in pain with no meds. All in all it took me an hour to get this done at about 9 at night.

No offense, my dad is also an MD, but some of them just need to get off their pedestal and realize that we save your/your patient’s butt all the time and work with us to help the patients.

Comment by I_hatemyjob on 2011-07-02 21:28:18 -0700 #

Ya, the case likes this is one in the life time. You may have one out of 1000 prescriptions you have filled. When you said consulting I think you meant–let me drag someone into this if there is a mistake then I can always say that I asked a pharmacist– Hahaha

Comment by I_hatemyjob on 2011-07-02 21:35:55 -0700 #

I just did that yesterday. One C-II prescription wrote as—- take one tablet po prn—I told the patient is was nor acceptable she needed to go back to doc’s office to get a new one since it is a C-II script. Since it was Friday I even called the offcie to tell them what was wrong with the script. Thirty minutes later this lady came in with a new script wrote– take one tablet by mouth as needed—- Again I told her it was not acceptable, I told that lady if I were you I may want to change the doctor apparently you doctor did not know how to write a prescription.

Comment by Mischelle McMillan, MD on 2011-07-04 01:32:10 -0700 #

Dear Angry Pharmacist!!!!

I love your website and always enjoy your latest rant. As a clinic/hospital based physician, I don’t know what I would do without my pharmacy buddies…I know i can always rely on them to help me with tricky dosing issues, especially with my (mostly) elderly patient population.

I especially enjoy your rants about the drug reps. I get ssoooo sick of them stopping by my clinic in their FM shoes and tight lepard skin tops to “educste me” about “their” drug.
If I want an education, I’ll call a pharmacy friend or go look the drug up on “Up to Date”. I so wish that I could ban those airheads from my clinic…but one of my partners is addicted to the food the reps bring (AND HE IS FAT AS A PIG TOO!!!!!).

My BIG GOAL in life is to have my picture next to the “BITCH” entry in the drug rep dictionary…and happily I think I’m well on my way to meeting this goal. I get so tired of the drug reps mindless chatter about their drug…I used to be a bench researcher invetigating cytotoxic T cells so I know lots and lots about statistics and the lies that can be concocted with them.

Keep on Ranting!!!!!!!!!
Dr. Mischelle (AKA Little Miss Dr.Bitchy-and proud of it!)

Comment by Ralph on 2011-07-10 21:51:25 -0700 #

My favorite example of this was when the arrogant Dr. D called us bitching that we gave his patient a higher strength of albuterol nebulized solution that they had refills for because we didn’t have the lower dosage in stock. We did everything in our power to find the strength that he asked for at 10pm when the parent came back in to get it. They didn’t respond to our call about there being a delay from 4 hours earlier when we could have found it for them. After finding out what happened, we told him that we gave them a syringe and directions to use 1/2 a vial instead of a whole one and it’s the same thing. He argued that it wasn’t and that we messed up. I faxed the office the PI’s and the labelings showing the strengths . A few hours later, one of the staff called back and apologized for him. He wasn’t man enough to apologize for himself. Though, his staff laughed when I called him back and specifically asked for the “Arrogant Dr. D.”

Comment by fitzceros on 2011-07-25 13:40:21 -0700 #

Where I live, that’s a “homemade” compound, the peds physician prescribes the three ingredients and the pharmacist compounds. “Butt paste.” Cheap as the day is long, as long as it’s homemade.

Just a taxpayer theft, straight up. That is just wrong.

Comment by tay on 2011-08-04 00:12:57 -0700 #

As a patient, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know everything. However, because I don’t have a job at the moment, and have the time to do so, I chase down every bit of literature on every medication I take, so that I can converse intelligently with the pharmacist. Even if it takes a few more minutes at the counter, I will sign my own name to the paperowrk, and will ask every question I have, even down to verbally verifying the dosage timing and amount. Why? becaues I don’t want ito be the pharmacist’s fault if I screw up, or black out and can’t remember. If the list of questions is more than two or three, I will simply pass my iPad across the counter and let them read it, since it’s faster for them to read than me to try and verbally ask at times. I will admit, I’ve had to switch pharmacies twice, because the first one couldn’t? deliver my meds before I ran out, even if called in on time, and the one I used after them were busy enough that 30 minutes became two days at times. I know I’m not the only customer, and I try to give breakst every chance I get. if I have a ton of questions, or it’s a new med, I wait until we’re last in line that way I cna take a little more time. In short, I completely see where you’re coming from. Just my thoughts from this side of the counter. Have a great day, and keep your chin up.

Comment by Dave on 2011-08-24 06:02:38 -0700 #

The new Pharm D’s coming out of school don’t equal the Pharm D’s from even 5 years ago. I’ve noticed a diluting of the profession when a large number of Pharmacy schools started opening. I’m not sure who are teaching these students, but they are not equiped and certainly don’t do our profession justice. I remember when it actually used to be hard to get into a pharmacy school and become a pharmacist. Now you can just find one that is graduating their first class in 5 or 6 years and get the same degree. I’ll give the AMA a big slap on the back for keeping a tight leash on their profession. Our profession has certainly let us down.

Comment by Rph 1984 on 2011-08-24 12:37:18 -0700 #

Do you have your own pharmacy, where is it located, and can I work with you?

1984 grad.

Comment by exintern on 2011-08-31 14:15:25 -0700 #

why don’t you ask yourself another question.
Why a simple F@#^ing ointment of vaselin, zinc and miconazole cost 275$??!!

Comment by PharmD2012 on 2011-10-06 23:40:34 -0700 #

New pharmacists with PharmD degrees need to start insisting that they be referred to as “doctor” in a manner analogous to physicians. Maybe then, will some of these cocky, know it all, and egotistical MDs out there realize our level of education, take our advice/recommendations, and not treat pharmacists (even hospital pharmacists) with the level of disrespect I have observed as a current student on rotations. This will require, though that pharmacists actually start pushing back and not just be ‘sheep’ who will accomodate all doctors prescriptions/medication orders.

Comment by Dr. Awkward on 2011-10-08 15:20:19 -0700 #

It’s pretty offensive for you to assume that techs and pharmacists “do the same thing” but pharmacists just get paid more. That’s a load of bullshit. Pharmacists get paid for what they know and not what they do. And just because you went to a 6 week course or even a 2 year course does not mean you have close to the knowledge that a pharmacist does. Your comment is ignorant and disrespectful. For the sake of our profession, go be a RD. Don’t take up space in pharmacy school only to realize it’s harder than you think.

Comment by HappyTech on 2011-10-14 15:22:06 -0700 #

Boo-Fucking-woo.

Pharmacists are lazy little bitches. The Techs do all the work. You basically get paid to double check the work of the techs. We are not your “HELP”, you are ours….fucktards. Get off your asses and start actually doing some work and stop your fucking bitching. Lazy fucking cockroaches….

Comment by FennRx on 2011-10-16 19:43:58 -0700 #

having worked inpatient and retail, i have found that there tends to be two groups of doctors who really scorn the pharmacist. The first of course are the old school guys, who are actually old. They have been practicing medicine for 40 years back when every single legend drug could fit in a broom closet. These docs have a carefully cultivated god complex that started long before medical school. and pharmacy was very different back then too- we pretty much just labeled stuff.

The second group are the PCPs. These are the guys who seem to always be the “my word is law” doctors. They see the widest variety of patients and prescribe the widest variety of drugs, therefore they think they know everything. When i call a urologist who prescribed cipro to a patient who is already on amio and methadone, they are thankful for my call. they openly admit they dont know the ins and outs of torsades. After a decade in retail, the nicest guys by far are the ER docs. And I’m guessing that’s because they deal with biggest pieces of shit on earth- people who tell them nothing other than the pain is a 10/10. these are the docs who answer the phone by their first name and never seemed by bothered by us calling (ie the whole “sorry to bother you, doctor…but” introduction)

If pharmacists stood up the docs more often, better relationships can be made. I had a guy who was CONSTANTLY losing his 3 month supply of barbiturate medication. I repeatedly asked to speak to the physician every time he authorized the medication and I was of course ignored. Finally I told the patient no more and that I didnt care what his doc said. And guess who called me? And I politely told him to get fucked and if he didnt like it I would file a complaint with the AG for his suspicious prescribing. He is much more friendly these days.

My $0.02 from a pissed off midwestern RPh.

Comment by MLA on 2011-10-16 23:59:54 -0700 #

Just came across your website, and I must say I just love it. My own experience was with an on-call Dr. There was a Drug interaction with a medication a patient was on, I had the MD paged and when he finally called back like why the hell did you page? I explained the reason why I paged and in his own words ” So you want the Monkey off your back eh” Mind you this was not the actual MD that prescribed the medication. I was so shocked that such phrase came out of a MD’s mouth. Are we not supposed to be looking out for our patient”s health?

Comment by VeraHG on 2011-11-02 21:49:12 -0700 #

Well, there are lots of timewaster pharmacists so I can perfectly understand some MD’s approach. BUT if there was a basic net of good communication, timewaster pharmacists would learn the rules (if not tought on the university). Saying it as a pharmacist – I could write similar angry posts about some of my collegues.

Comment by Lee on 2011-11-10 13:52:16 -0800 #

I’ve hardly ever heard anyone outside of pharmacy academia actually say they enjoy what they do. The grocery-store/$4 drug model of pharmacy has cheapened the profession on the community-side, and there are so many schools now open that it’s ridiculously hard to get the residency you want (and get paid less than a community pharmacist too). All these reasons are why I dropped out of pharmacy school after two years and went medical school. I haven’t looked back and am actually excited about my future prospects. I will say that because of being in the pharmacy realm for so long, I do have a lot of respect for pharmacists, and I won’t be one of those MDs who acts like an ass.

Comment by PharmacySchoolDropOut on 2011-11-10 13:57:15 -0800 #

@PharmD2012…hahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahah. Your degree isn’t analogous.

Comment by KittaKitta on 2011-11-10 21:32:43 -0800 #

My mom is an RD at a dialysis center…She kind of hates it! She gets little respect from doctors and nurses, but continues because of how rewarding the patient/practitioner relationships are. She gets paid very little, just like you said yet they are continually increasing her work load and responsibilities. Oh yea, and guess what! You are right! 99.9% of dietary advice falls on deaf ears!

It takes a special person to withstand the demands of retail pharmacy (or any job in the service industry, particularly healthcare related). I love the chain where I work and I know most of my regulars by name. No two days are EVER the same! So, NO idea what you are talking about with the repetitiveness. Skip pharmacy, you just aren’t cut out for it obviously

Comment by Phaedrus on 2011-11-11 09:59:40 -0800 #

You’re a douche.

Comment by WAGslave on 2011-11-23 09:38:43 -0800 #

On-line PharmD degrees aren’t helping the profession either.

Comment by Cassie on 2012-01-02 23:58:49 -0800 #

I agree agree entirely; however, you are incapable of using a semi colon correctly. It’s driving me insane. Promise me that you’ll look up the appropriate instances for said grammatical convention before attempting to employee them.

Comment by StupidPhamPatient on 2012-02-12 19:42:20 -0800 #

Thanks for validating that pharmacists are egotistical blowhards. You guys make doctors look like compassionate servants of man.

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