Logicgui.com

The Break

Took a few days off from being lazy to be lazier! Our initial plan to visit the Lone Star State was ruined by a family with shits for brain. Nonetheless, I was still able to spend a few days with her to relax and get fat. As unbecoming of me, a squiggle, as this may sound, I have my vacation all planned out. Baptism this week, bachelor party next week, H-town middle of April, Destin, and all leading up to Vietnam!

The Misfill

Last day of rotation was quite perfect, besides a little misfill. Coumadin 3mg was entered as 5mg, and the pharmacist signed off on it. Thankfully I wasn’t the one who keyed it or filled it. Unthankfully, I should have been the one who keyed it and filled it. I saw the script, pulled the right drug, prepared to count the tablets, but had to inform a junkie that no, she can’t just read me the Vicodin script over the phone, I actually need the hard copy. Apparently, the tech didn’t care for my 3mg bottle and entered the 5mg. Another tech filled it. By the time I hung up the phone, the damage was done. It sucked even more that the misfill was noticed not by the patient but by the doctor.

“Hi, this is B from Dr. M’s office. We ordered warfarin 3mg, but it was filled for 5 mg. Are you the pharmacist?”
“Uh no ma’am, not for this I’m not.”

While the pharmacist was apologizing her way out of trouble, I was singing “it’s too late to apologize, it’s too late.” At times like these, I’m glad to concede my $50 something an hour and be a free labor intern.

The Compliment

As the day wrapped up, a mustached woman (yes, full grown, visible from 10 feet away mustache) asked me to recommend an OTC product. I simply wanted her symptoms but instead got her whole life history. After a million blahs, to which I pretentiously nodded while staring at her mustache, she finally told me her symptoms. I recommended a product. A few million blahs followed. She thanked me wholeheartedly and said “you’re going to be a great pharmacist.” Perhaps it was the sincerity in her eyes or the gratitude in her tone, but those words alone obliterated all my insecurities as an intern and gave me the confidence to practice on my own as a pharmacist. As she walked away, I felt a profound sense of accomplishment, a feeling one rarely gets in a hospital setting.

I can’t ask for a more perfect ending.