Thursday, March 5, 2009

Assuming: It makes a You-Know-What Out of Me and You

I learned yesterday to never make assumptions, and I learned it the hard way. So maybe the rest of the pharmaceutical world can profit from my stupidity and avoid the same blunder.
Scenario:
Patient comes to pharmacy to pick up their medications. Patient is with 10 year old son. The medication is for prenatal vitamins. The pharmacy you work for puts a "Mandatory Consultation" advisory on the medication. You can't sell the medication until the pharmacist talks with the patient about their prenatal vitamins.
So, you tell the pharmacist that they need to consult with the patient. Meanwhile the patient is waiting, eagerly, to get on with their day. You don't want to inconvenience the patient anymore, and the pharmacist seems busy. So, pharmacist asks you to ask the patient if they're pregnant, nursing, or attempting to have a child.
You go back to the patient to ask these routine questions because these "Mandatory Consultation" blocks happen all the time. But - SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH , STOP! WoW- Back the Car Up....not such a good idea. Can we go back in time at this point?
The patient looks at you with a flushed face...the 10 year old kid looks a bit bewildered and puzzled. Mom snaps at child "Go sit down", avoids looking at you, and walks over to the pharmacist.
"This is not how I wanted my son to find out" she quips. Pharmacist apologizes, updates health information. I look like a big, yep, you know what, feel about 2 inches tall, and want to curl up, out of sight, in the back of the pharmacy and not face the world for the rest of my shift.

Moral of the story: never assume your inconveniencing a patient by having them step over, by themselves, to the pharmacist to talk about their medication - even if it's just for a multivitamin.

1 comment:

  1. Wow I bet your face was red! I look forward to reading more of your blog. I have a friend who's a Pharm Dr. and my mom worked for a time as a Tech...lots of stories, those with morals, and those that are just plain funny. Thanks for sharing your learning experiences, thoughts, etc.

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