Rant About Doctors

[RxBoy]

Okay, I've ranted about the patients at my pharmacy quite a bit. I think today I've finally had it with doctors though. I'm going to vent just a bit about the things that doctors do that irritate the living hell out of me...

1. I know it saves a lot of time and trouble to send prescriptions to us electronically or call them in, but would you please stop telling your patients that they can come right over and it will be ready for them??? You don't know how busy we are and you don't know our rules for handling e-prescriptions. I am getting tired of hearing people complain that you told them it would be ready in 15 minutes.

2. Also on the same subject, don't tell them that a drug is on our $4 generic list unless you have verified that with us first. Trust me, if you are wrong they are going to yell at me about it, not you.

3. Most of you have told your patients that you want the pharmacy to be the one that contacts you for refill requests. That's fine, but please get back to us within a reasonable amount of time. And then don't get annoyed when the patient calls you and yells at you when we've sent you three fax requests over a 7 day period and you haven't yet responded.

4. I know you are busy, but please take a few seconds and double check your prescriptions before you give them to the patient. If you leave off something important such as the quantity or strength, or you forget to sign it, we have to call you and verify the information. This wastes our time and the patients time. Please be extra sure to sign controlled substances because we cannot accept a confirmation on those over the phone. The patient will have to come back to you and get the script signed.

5. When you call our pharmacy to speak to the pharmacist, I may have to put you on hold for a few minutes. If the pharmacist is with a patient or on the other line you will have to wait your turn. I understand that you are busy but so are we. Don't get annoyed that you need to wait a few minutes. If we call you we don't expect you to abandon the patient you are with to get on the phone right away.

6. Please, please, please...when you prescribe a drug that requires prior authorization, please do the paperwork as soon as possible. You obviously want them on this drug or wouldn't have prescribed it. But they can't get it until the insurance approves the prior auth. If you take two weeks to get the paperwork turned in, that's two weeks that the patient goes without the medicine.

7. Please consider the economic status of your patients when writing prescriptions for them. Don't prescribe a drug that costs $275 for the little old lady who has nothing but social security when there is a $12 drug that will work just as well. Please try to have some idea of how much drugs cost because it wastes both of our time when we have to call you for an alternative because the drug is too expensive for the patient. If they don't take their meds because they can't afford them, it does no good.

8. If you can't write legibly, please either type them or get your secretary to fill out the prescriptions and you sign them. It wastes our time and the patients time if they have to wait for us to call you because we can't read your writing. Also, it could have some serious consequences if the wrong medicine is given because of your sloppy writing. Please use your head.

[Evil Queen]

What? We can have any of that! That would be smart and convenient! It cannot be done! Just simply cannot be done!

[The Last to Know]

Amen to all of that & I've never worked at a pharmacy, but I have worked in a doctor's office. It's amazing how much time could be saved if doctors would just follow the correct procedures

[Pagan]

Get out of my mind RxBoy!

[AccountingDrone]

I love my endo's office - they 'write' the prescriptions so that a computer prints them out and the doc signs them. Wonderful clear legible typed out prescriptions *sigh*

[Magpie]

Yeah, when I went to the university health services to get a prescription for naproxen the doctor just typed it up and signed the form that came out. Beautiful, easy to read, and probably took her less time than if she had written by hand.

[RxBoy]

After the long weekend, I have two more that I need to add to my list..

- Please educate your staff as to what HIPAA is about. It does not prevent different healthcare professionals from sharing information that is necessary for the treatment in question. I called a medical office that faxed over a prescription for a new patient. Due to the nature of the drug prescribed we needed to know if the patient suffered from a certain medical condition and we also needed to know if they had allergies to anything. The nurse I spoke with refused to tell me saying that it would violate HIPAA. No it doesn't! Thanks to your nurses misinformed beliefs, the patient had to wait for us to fill it until they arrived.

- Also, if you are the on-call doctor for your practice on the weekend and we page you...please get back to us quickly! I understand it can be annoying, but you are designated as on call for that weekend. We are not paging you to invite you to a party next weekend. We are paging you because there is a problem we need your help with and the patient is sitting here waiting on you. One doctor did not get back to us for over an hour. That is ridiculous. If you are seeing another patient for an emergency, it's understandable. But please don't wait to call us back until you finish watching your tv show or playing your golf game!

[KellyHabersham]

I'll have to agree with #7 on that list - not because my doctor is sucky, but it's hard to get across that while X brand of asthma meds do work for me, I can't afford them and rent on my income, and I make too much to get on assistance programs. (thus, why I order those meds from Europe now)

[jedimaster91]

If you can't write legibly, please either type them or get your secretary to fill out the prescriptions and you sign them. It wastes our time and the patients time if they have to wait for us to call you because we can't read your writing. Also, it could have some serious consequences if the wrong medicine is given because of your sloppy writing. Please use your head.

I am eagerly awaiting the switch to computerized charts in my town so I will no longer have to decipher doctors' handwriting on floor charts. I swear they take classes in illegible penmenship.

- Also, if you are the on-call doctor for your practice on the weekend and we page you...please get back to us quickly! I understand it can be annoying, but you are designated as on call for that weekend. We are not paging you to invite you to a party next weekend. We are paging you because there is a problem we need your help with and the patient is sitting here waiting on you. One doctor did not get back to us for over an hour. That is ridiculous. If you are seeing another patient for an emergency, it's understandable. But please don't wait to call us back until you finish watching your tv show or playing your golf game!

I know of several cardiologists who routinely make us wait several hours for them to grace us with their presence to supervise the stress test. Drives me bonkers and it pisses off the patients. And of course it's my fault the doc decided to play a round of golf or catch a movie before doing his fraking job (Ok, not really, but with as long as they take, they very well could have).

A few of my own:

--For cripe's sake, please educate yourself on the kind of test you're ordering. Yes, the HIDA will take 2 hours, no I can't make it go any faster. If you want to find an infection in bone or joint replacement loosening, you want the 3-phase bone scan. Not a limited bone. The Ceretech scan for soft tissue infection takes several hours because we have to draw blood and send it offsite to tag it. I'm not starting one at 1pm on a Friday.

--A corellary to the above, please be clear on your orders. Writing "bone scan" doesn't tell me anything since there are at least three different "bone scans" looking for three different diagnoses.

--Tell your patients why you're ordering such and such tests. In order for you to get paid for said test, we have to fill out appropriatness criteria. It delays your payment when we have to fish for answers. Plus, it's annoying.

--Don't get titchy with me for knowing my job. I'm still trying to figure out why you wanted a gallbladder scan for chest pain. I'm pretty sure a cardiac stress test will give you more relevent information.

--The next time I have to do a lung scan on someone grossly obese, smoking x20 yrs, COPD, and emphysema, I'm going to strangle you with your necktie. The sole purpose of the lung scan is to find a blood clot in the lungs. The aforementioned patient demographic has lungs that look like swiss cheese already. My scan will tell you that much, but will not be able to tell you if there's a clot. CT's PE protocol is vastly superior. Don't waste my time and the patient's money for a test that won't tell you jack.

[elsporko]

7. Please consider the economic status of your patients when writing prescriptions for them. Don't prescribe a drug that costs $275 for the little old lady who has nothing but social security when there is a $12 drug that will work just as well. Please try to have some idea of how much drugs cost because it wastes both of our time when we have to call you for an alternative because the drug is too expensive for the patient. If they don't take their meds because they can't afford them, it does no good.

But that would require doctors to give out meds based on what is best and not on what company gave them free stuff.

[BlaqueKatt]

7. Please consider the economic status of your patients when writing prescriptions for them. Don't prescribe a drug that costs $275 for the little old lady who has nothing but social security when there is a $12 drug that will work just as well. Please try to have some idea of how much drugs cost because it wastes both of our time when we have to call you for an alternative because the drug is too expensive for the patient. If they don't take their meds because they can't afford them, it does no good.

thankfully my doctors all have smartphones-they will look on the internet for the pricing if I ask after being handed the prescription. Heck my mom's cardiologist wanted her on certain meds badly enough(she couldn't afford them), he ordered 3 month supplies from canada for her and paid for them himself-didn't charge her-because *gasp* he was concerned for her health.

[AccountingDrone]

I'll have to agree with #7 on that list - not because my doctor is sucky, but it's hard to get across that while X brand of asthma meds do work for me, I can't afford them and rent on my income, and I make too much to get on assistance programs. (thus, why I order those meds from Europe now)

Really - that is why I adore my doctor. His office specializes in hispanics in New London, so he knows right from the start that they are limited income, he does take Tri-care, so he also gets military. He has a copy of the master list of the meds available on base, and makes his decisions based on that list for military, and the various discounted med/generic lists from the surrounding businesses. His office does most of their own testing, he does his own digital x-rays, and handles the billing in office. He does hand out samples with abandon - it isn't uncommon to get handed a 3 month supply of something name brand and get a scrip for generic for when it runs out His staffers make every attempt to know your name and are polite and have excellent bedside manners.

[Iris Kojiro]

I get people complaining about the price too, saying that "the doctor told me that it would cost XXX".

I have no qualms about (in different words, of course) calling the doctor in question a moron. I'll bluntly say "Your doctor's not going to know that".

[infinitemonkies]

In other news, the doctors strike continues this week.
Negotiations are expected to begin after a pharmacist can be brought in to interpret the picket signs and find out what their demands are.

[Pagan]

I get people complaining about the price too, saying that "the doctor told me that it would cost XXX".

I have no qualms about (in different words, of course) calling the doctor in question a moron. I'll bluntly say "Your doctor's not going to know that".

Gods, did I hate that. And the doctor also telling them, without checking of course, that they're insurance would cover said drug, too.

In other news, the doctors strike continues this week.
Negotiations are expected to begin after a pharmacist can be brought in to interpret the picket signs and find out what their demands are.

Or techs. We're masters at deciphering what's laughingly called doctor's "hand writing", too!