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I currently work in specialty pharmacy. It is my job to schedule shipments of medication to our patients. With specialty pharmacy the general rule of thumb is that our patients won't get better. Their conditions usually will get worse over time. Good examples are the fact that most of our patients have things like cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis.
The queues I work are antiviral (HIV patients), HRI (Hormone Replacement Injections, either for fertility, impotency, sometimes for cancer, things like IUDs, etc) and then I also work the giant miscellaneous queue. Miscellaneous has things like Exjade (for patients who have multiple transfusions which results in high iron levels in their blood that needs to be removed), meds for end stage renal failure, cancer, schitzophrenia, transplant patients, etc.
I'd been trying for some time to set up a new shipment with one of my HRI patients. His medication was for cancer. His daughter was my contact and throughout the calls things never looked stellar. He was in bad shape, in his late 80s, and getting worse. At one point he entered hospice but she thought they might care for him at home so she wanted me to follow up. I followed up earlier this week. Now, his daughter was one of those 50 or 60 somethings with a firm brassy attitude. A go-getter sort, who always knew what she wanted, and always seemed in control and a bit unhappy that this situation was out of control. The hitch in her strong voice when she told me he had passed away over the weekend about did me in.
That's the one thing I never really bargained for when I signed on for this job. I help people. I get them the medication to make them feel better. Whenever one of my patients has passed away I take it hard. There was another one today, not a patient I was familiar with but darn it... it upsets me. I hate being the one to bother the family with trying to set up refills, reminding them of the pain and illness.
The queues I work are antiviral (HIV patients), HRI (Hormone Replacement Injections, either for fertility, impotency, sometimes for cancer, things like IUDs, etc) and then I also work the giant miscellaneous queue. Miscellaneous has things like Exjade (for patients who have multiple transfusions which results in high iron levels in their blood that needs to be removed), meds for end stage renal failure, cancer, schitzophrenia, transplant patients, etc.
I'd been trying for some time to set up a new shipment with one of my HRI patients. His medication was for cancer. His daughter was my contact and throughout the calls things never looked stellar. He was in bad shape, in his late 80s, and getting worse. At one point he entered hospice but she thought they might care for him at home so she wanted me to follow up. I followed up earlier this week. Now, his daughter was one of those 50 or 60 somethings with a firm brassy attitude. A go-getter sort, who always knew what she wanted, and always seemed in control and a bit unhappy that this situation was out of control. The hitch in her strong voice when she told me he had passed away over the weekend about did me in.
That's the one thing I never really bargained for when I signed on for this job. I help people. I get them the medication to make them feel better. Whenever one of my patients has passed away I take it hard. There was another one today, not a patient I was familiar with but darn it... it upsets me. I hate being the one to bother the family with trying to set up refills, reminding them of the pain and illness.
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