Pet Peeves

Check-Out Chug-A-Lug.

A cash-paying patient traveling from another county to fill her prescription for Tylenol #3 confirmed my nagging suspicions by chugging the bottle right after I handed it to her.

Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover.

When a medication of the same strength from a different manufacturer is refused by a customer. Just because a tablet is bigger or has a different color or shape, the patient doesn’t want to take it because it has “double the ingredients and more side effects.”

Claritin Clear.

I was working the graveyard shift in the somewhat shady part of town, and a police officer on duty asked me for a refill on his expired Claritin prescription for his severe allergies. Those were the days when Claritin was a prescription product and the only OTC antihistamine options included Benadryl and its other sedating cousins—needless to say, not the best options during work requiring possession of firearms. I decided to look the other way and make a deal: “Officer, I’ll gladly give you a Claritin if you walk me to my car at the end of my shift!”

Hard Copy.

The lack of understanding by prescribers of the importance of getting physical prescriptions to the pharmacy when a patient moves from long-term care back to independent living.

Bad Mood.

In response to being told that she had no more refills left on a Xanax prescription, a patient proceeded to call me a “bad businesswoman.”

The Fine Print.

We recently had a patient in the pharmacy who tried to refill a medication that didn’t have any refills left. When we showed him that on the label, he said, “Oh, is that what it says there?”