Politics and Guesswork

Whew. Like a lot of us, I was following the election ups and downs pretty closely and this week kind of wore me out. I'll just say I was happy with the results of the presidential race but alas, disappointed with some of my state races. The tasks facing our incoming president are daunting but I am hopeful that with a new perspective we can turn things around. I found it really exciting to see the reactions around the world to our new president. There can never be a down side to having a president who's popular overseas.

Still, the people where I work generally avoid talking politics, which I think is probably a good thing. Some just don't pay a lot of attention. But the ones who pay attention realize that working in close quarters as we do, it's better to stay off the topic as it creates lots of strong emotions. Someone in another department who stops by the pharmacy frequently was obviously not an Obama supporter, and has taken to letting loose with sarcastic comments the minute she enters the area. It's already causing some problems and I can see it's going to lead to trouble if she isn't told to find something else to talk about, and soon.

As far as pharmacy work this week there was a lot of the 'guessing game' going on. Someone called and wanted refills on two tubes of creams he had in his hand. The labels were completely worn off so he could not identify them. I checked his profile and saw no tubes of cream. Were they filled at our pharmacy? I asked. Not sure. Do you know where they might have been filled? Not sure. Any clues as to what they are called? At this point, he became weary of my questions and asked, could you just fill them? ...... these are the types of things that drive your pharmacist crazy.

Another man was picking up his prescriptions. There were two ready. He stated there should be three. Which one is missing? we asked. He had no idea. So we begin the process of pulling up his profile and playing 20 questions, naming each medication, sometimes it's color, what it's for, and before long there are three people tied up in this process which drags out for several minutes. This irritates the bejeezus out of me. People MUST know the names of their medications --- ask your pharmacist, they'll print you a list that you can carry. It's not just for our convenience, it's for your own SAFETY. I've taken calls from women who don't know the name of their birth control pill. C'mon people... responsibility please!!