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Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Demo Time

The next time someone asks why it takes so long to fill your prescription, I'm going to send over one of my highly trained, cynical representatives to perform a demonstration.
We will have a demo cart set up with the following items: empty vials, safety lids, non-safety lids, a blank label, a completed "test" label, random tabs/caps we found under the counter (or M&M's), a counting tray, a spatula, and the most illegible, poorly written or typed prescription we have seen in our pharmacy. 
Then, in our tone most snarky, we shall commence the lesson.

See this blank label? Uh-huh. This is the before. Yep. See this completed one, the one with all the writing on it? Yep. We put that on there. But how does it get there? First you have to read the prescription. See this one? I can't give you XXXXXXXXXXX the way that it is written. It would either kill you, or it doesn't exist. See, your prescriber is just making it up as he goes along. Must have been the 5pm special, scribbling as he and his colleagues exeunt. Now we have to call the prescriber...

Fast forward to receiving a new, clean prescription. This could take seconds to weeks, depending on your office. Now we type it all in the computer. What we type in here (motions to computer) comes out there (waves hand over completed label). This is how we know what, and what quantity, to count. Now we have a big bottle of medication. Somehow, we have to make sure it is the right one. Uh-huh. Yeah. We can't just grab random medication off the shelf. That would be bad, m'kay? So we pull it. Then we scan it. THEN we count it. Let me demonstrate it for you.

<exhibits flawless, machine-like skills while wielding a CP 5000 model spatula and effortlessly sliding the chosen little doses across the smooth surface of the tray>

Then we have to select the appropriate size vessel for your medication. Easy with tablets as there is a graduated marking system on the side here <waves hand over the tray demonstrably>, but less easy with capsules. It takes experience and know-how to gauge the size. We then bust a cap on it. THEN, and this is every patients' favourite part, we professionally apply a label to the bottle, delicately rolling it so as not to impart creases or wrinkles (okay, we slap that bitch on there, but it's lovingly applied to appear straight and elegant). THEN...

...we hand it off to the pharmacist. Her job is to verify that what I put in there is what is supposed to be in there. I performed this demonstration for you in an aseptic, controlled environment. Normally, I would perform this task under duress; I would be answering phones, taking your drop off, fielding questions about the location of cotton balls, the bathrooms, and the sale item of the week and slinging pills like a short-order cook slinging hash. The pharmacist, once she is satisfied I didn't mislabel or misfill your bottle, will bag your order so you can go wait in line to retrieve it.
[Note: I skipped the part about the drug interactions, profile check, etc because that is the pharmacist's advance class (#WhyYouPrescriptionTakesSoLong II) which is available only on weekends and evenings for a nominal fee.]
Assuming no one in front of you decides to present a new insurance or discount card, it is quite likely you can proceed through checkout in a matter of minutes.

Hello? Sir? Wake up. Your prescription is ready. Sir? 

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