The customers I encounter/Almost done internship

1) Rude ones who throw their Credit card/Cash on the counter. I swear, you get better customers at McDonalds. At least they're willing to wait in line and don't scream at you.

2a) Crazy ones that call 3 billion times a day to see if their doctor has OK'd their T3s.
2b) Annoying customers that have to speak to the pharmacist to refill a stupid prescription.

3) Customers on ODB who will never remember that come August 1st, they'll have to pay a deductible, and swear that they have never paid a deductible before in their life.

4) Those who stare you down while you're working because they think it'll magically make the process go faster.

And countless other patients/customers.

Honestly, in school you learn about how wonderful it is to be a pharmacist. We can solve DRP's, provide pharmaceutical care, improve the life of our patients and establish a therapeutic relationship with them. We are the "#1 Trusted Health Professionals" and so we should be love what we do.

Well, I guess for some people it can be true.

What hinders community pharmacists from providing the best pharmaceutical care is the fact that we have to do so many other things, especially at a busy store. Do you think you simply 'check prescriptions' to make sure it's okay? Heck no! I am constantly answering phones, going out in the aisle to make recommendations, calling doctors' offices for clarifcations that sometimes I can't even check a prescription without interruption. If you're at a busy store, you're also entering in prescriptions or cashing people out if the technicians are busy. You're not just a pharmacist, you do EVERYTHING.

Another big obstacle is time. Community pharmacy is essentially a business. Your boss/manager is not going to be happy if customers are upset because you are slow. Hence, you won't spend 5 minutes like you do in PPL labs to talk about every single thing about the medication. Meds Checks, Call Backs.. pretty hard unless you have EXCELLENT time management and a store that isn't too busy.

My internship store has taught me a lot. They're nicknamed me the "Machine" because I've pretty much been able to work independently since week 4. It's still pretty overwhelming as I feel as though there's still so much I don't know. Honestly, everything comes with experience though. I wish there was a computer chip that contains all OTC/Rx info and insert it in my brain. Sometimes I've encountered situations where I'm like... *ugh, hmm...*... then I'm scratching my head as to where to find the answer.

I've seen some pretty interesting things so far, but only a couple stick out right now.. the first being 0.2% nitroglycerin ointment and Cialis 5mg/day.

Thank God it's Friday tomorrow!!

I got a full time staff pharmacist position at a store 5 minutes away from my house! Awesomeness :)