Tomato Theory

customer service

Patient #1 called to get Ambien (a sleeping pill) refilled. It has no refill on the rx, of course. She asked if I could advance her one pill because evidently she couldn't go without a sleeping pill for one night. I said no because it's a controlled substances and since it's already 7pm her doctor probably won't call back to okay the refill until the next day. She got upset and asked how come our pharmacy didn't alert the patients when their medications are running low. What can I say? You're a grown up person and I assume you can read the "NO REFILL" on the rx label. And I assume that you'll realize when there was only one pill left in the bottle. Why in the world would you call me the last minute when you know your doctor never put any refills for your rxs because he knows you're an addict?

Patient #2 called the pharmacy manager because he picked up some Cialis (kind of like Viagra) and dropped them on the freeway when he was riding his motorcycle. Now he didn't ask if he could get another refill. Instead he said we should fill the rx again at the pharmacy's expense. Does it make sense at all? If you get robbed after you withdrawal money from the bank do you ask the back to deposit that money to your account again? This reminds me about another patient at my old store whose Viagra was "stolen while he was asleep in the bus"!! He has medicaid so he expected the state will pay for them again. My heart broke when I think about where my tax money goes. People who take no responsibilities of their lives and have no respect for others. Mothers who give birth to 6 children so they can all get on the state plan and get 3 bottles of tylenol and 3 bottles of motrin for free every month.

This is a crazy world.

5:08

Daddy had flown back to HK today. He picked the right day to leave.

We were out of power for more than 3 hours today and it was well over 100 degrees. Picture this: I was laying still on the couch and Simon on the bed; while Mommy was working in the kitchen washing the fruits and veggies we bought from the farmer's market.

At 5:08pm we had electricty again, things went back to normal (although it's still hot) and I've no excuse for not going to work tomorrow.

ready to go

Finally, 2 days before our trip, I received the package from my travel agent. This lady is probably the least helpful agent in the world although she sounded nice over the phone. She doesn't know anything about the tour, doesn't follow through, and spells my first name wrong on the air ticket! Now I've to the airline and see if they can fix it or if they'll even let me get onto the plane.

**sigh**

what I learned from HGTV.....

before

after

what should i do?!?!

This is a sample CPJE question found on the Board of Pharmacy website:

A patient brings in a prescription for Propecia written by a known physician on a plain piece of paper. The paper is not a prescription blank, but just a plain white sheet of paper with all the needed information hand written. The pharmacist should

A. fill the prescription as written and file
B. not fill the prescription as it represents a forgery
C. tell the patient that this is a non-prescription medication
D. have the patient obtain the prescription on a formal prescription blank

What should I do?!?! These not-quite-common-but-certainly-can-happen-reality type questions really confuse me (like the NJBOP's favorite question: what if the prescribe dies...). So if it happens I'll just give the MD office a call to verify that it was in fact written by the doctor and give the med to the patient. The NJ state law states that EVERY prescription has to be written on a blue, pre-printed prescription paper so I'll have to re-write the information using the store's prescription pad. But that's it.

Propecia is not a controlled substances as it doesn't have addiction potential. But it is an Rx-only drug which in the law book it is defined as a "dangerous drug" and can only be obtained with a prescription. What if the "known prescriber" signs his/her name as a big circle or big "L" like Dr. Long/Lukenda/Lee/Lala so anyone can just grab a piece of plain paper and start writing his/her own prescriptions.

I'm not sure if there's a section in the law book that refers to the specific situation as described in the question, I just don't think any of the given answers is absolutely correct.

rainbow....

Today it rained the first time after we moved to cali. It just lasted a couple hours in the afternoon but I can't wait to see the lush green grasses and mountains tomorrow.