Am I the only one who gets disgusted quite frequently at our own profession? Take professional courtesy for example.
When a pharmacy calls me for a copy, even if its a chain whom I hate, I always make sure that copy goes into the fax machine as quickly as possible. When a pharmacist is on the phone to ask a question or to request said copy, I treat that phone call as if its a doctor holding. I drop everything and answer the phone.
Why? Because its called professional courtesy and I strongly believe in not shitting in my own bed. Eventually I will need a copy from that pharmacy, and I much rather would treat my colleagues how I would like to be treated.
However, there are pharmacies in town who make me wait on hold for 20 min to request a copy, then take their own sweet fucking time faxing the information over (sometimes 2-3 hours). After waiting by the fax machine (as the patient is pacing around the store), I call to get the “Oh, we’re really busy”/”I’ll get to it” excuse. I’m fucking sorry, I’m /just/ as busy as you are however I tend to put people in my own profession (and doctors) a notch above the village idiot who is calling for his soma early. Hi? Remember me? A pharmacist JUST LIKE YOU.
I’ve been tempted to drive down the road to the local chain(s) and go take a steaming dump on their counters for how some pharmacists they employ treat their own. Sure, we might be competitors and by faxing copies you are in fact taking business away from your store, but take a step back on how this looks to the patient. You make it seem like you really don’t give a flying fuck about the patient if he’s not getting Rx’s filled at your store (which if you work for a chain you very well could not). Now, after 4 phone calls from me and wasting the patients (and my own) time, do you really think that patient will ever go your chain again? Of course not. Do you think that I’ll go out of my way to help you out in the future? Of course not.
Time after time however I promptly answer copy requests from the chains in a prompt and courteous manner even though deep down I know that they really don’t give a rats ass about someone who they’ll see at the CE dinners, at the pharmacy association meetings, and the person who will advance them a box of Duragesic patches late Friday for a long-term patient of theirs. Its really fucking disgusting at the lack of professional courtesy that some of the “pharmacists” show. You put your own before anyone else, because by not doing so you are doing not only a disservice to your own, to your patients, but to someone who will cover for you in case you want some vacation time, insurance information/tricks, or someone who is going through the exact same shit you are going through.
So to the chains who take 4 hours to fax over one fucking piece of paper: Go fuck yourself, I filled that copy off of the bottle that your former patient brought in because you didn’t take care of business before sipping that coffee as you stare at your $100k script-pro that will soon replace you.
Oh, and see that awesome logo someone made for me up in the corner of this post? Yeah, those are pills he’s shooting out of that gun with the bandoleer of pill bottles. Cool huh? Don’t steal it, its mine. Coming to a coffee cup near you as soon as my fellow pharmacists stop pissing me off.
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