Does anybody read what I fax?
Going to work on a monday is like beating myself over the head with hammer. It hurts, but for some stupid reason (money??) I keep doing it. You’d think that after a while, I’d get out of the way of the hammer.
Since people who receive faxes from pharmacies probably look at them for 7 nano seconds before passing them off, I have tried to dumb them down to their basic components. I try to use simple terms (first grade) and sharpies to make my point. TWICE today, it was ignored like I was writing sanskrit or something.
Case in point number 1. We asked for a refill for a patient for 90 days supply of Atenolol 50mg She had been on 1/2 tab BID, #90. A couple of hours later a prescription was faxed for same lady for Atenolol 50mg #90 1 po BID. with 11 refills. Because this was inconsistent with what we asked for we sent it back for clarification “Did you intend to change directions from one-half tab twice daily to one tab twice daily?” Please Verify and fax back. … A few hours later we got yet another prescription from the same office–no note, nothing, Atenolol 50mg #180 1 po BID….with 11 refills. First off, do they have any idea that they just ok’ed refills for this woman for 36 months? Secondly, they did not specifically address my question. The other pharmacist said “Fine, it will be filled as written and the patient can talk to the dr if they disagree, just make sure they know whats been changed”
Case in point number 2. Armour Thyroid is on backorder in all strengths. We gave Mrs Jones the last 5 of the 120mg tabs (1qd) we had over the weekend. The patient asked US (not my job) to contact the dr to find out what she should do. We send over a nicely crafted note that said in summary ” ALL Armour thyroid is on back order, is there an alternative you’d like to use in the mean time?” He faxes back (God’s honest truth here…) Use Armour thyroid 60mg 2qd. Brilliant…Hello? is there anybody in there? Can you read? I’m not an ignoramus. If I HAD 60mg Armour, I’d have used it….
It was such a Monday…
Tags: doctors, pharmacy life | |