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I was at the VA hopital yesterday making a trip to the acute care. The VA does things a little differently than regular hospitals from what I've seen. By the time that I got taken care of and sent over to the pharmacy, it was nearing 5:00. The drop off window closes at 5:30, however the staff stays until everyone that is in the pharmacy's lobby has their meds before they close the pickup windows. Okay, no problem - we were told that the absolute latest that we would all be out of there was 6:30, but given the volume they suspected it would be closer to 6. And that was for every single person to get their meds and be done.
Sure enough, at 5:30 the drop off window made a final announcement that it was closing and asked if there was anyone in the lobby that had not already dropped off their scripts. After getting the negative response, the window was closed. We were then asked to come up to the pick up window and give them our names so that they knew exactly who was physically waiting and could put those above other fills (phone refills, computer fills, etc.) Everyone does so and settles back into their seats, or takes up their pacing where they left off. Seems simple, eh?
Sure enough, there always has to be one. Not five minutes later, a little old man was up at the pickup window getting his stuff, when a guy goes storming up to demand how much longer they were going to make him wait. When asked to return to his seat so that they could finish helping the person already at the window, he proceeds to get loud and aggresive about it. Not the best choice, since pretty much everything on the first floor is closed and, hey! security is now curious about the yelling. He then proceeds to scream at the girl in the pickup window about how ridiculous this is and thanks for nothing!!
Then he proceeds to storm out - picking up a patrolling security man along the way.
Dude. Seriously. It sounds like you really need those medications and should have waited the extra five minutes to get them.
Come on. Yes, the wait is a bit longer. But they have a huge volume of prescriptions coming in on any give day. And bonus! They are right there. No having to go to a drug store where you still have a wait and only one or two chairs plus a commute to get there. You go right from the doctor to the pharmacy and have a private lobby area for waiting. Trust me, the wait is worth it. Especially considering that I'm uninsured, and the same trip would have cost me well over a couple of hundred dollars to go a regular acute care and pharmacy and probably taken just as long or longer.
Sure enough, at 5:30 the drop off window made a final announcement that it was closing and asked if there was anyone in the lobby that had not already dropped off their scripts. After getting the negative response, the window was closed. We were then asked to come up to the pick up window and give them our names so that they knew exactly who was physically waiting and could put those above other fills (phone refills, computer fills, etc.) Everyone does so and settles back into their seats, or takes up their pacing where they left off. Seems simple, eh?
Sure enough, there always has to be one. Not five minutes later, a little old man was up at the pickup window getting his stuff, when a guy goes storming up to demand how much longer they were going to make him wait. When asked to return to his seat so that they could finish helping the person already at the window, he proceeds to get loud and aggresive about it. Not the best choice, since pretty much everything on the first floor is closed and, hey! security is now curious about the yelling. He then proceeds to scream at the girl in the pickup window about how ridiculous this is and thanks for nothing!!
Then he proceeds to storm out - picking up a patrolling security man along the way.Dude. Seriously. It sounds like you really need those medications and should have waited the extra five minutes to get them.
Come on. Yes, the wait is a bit longer. But they have a huge volume of prescriptions coming in on any give day. And bonus! They are right there. No having to go to a drug store where you still have a wait and only one or two chairs plus a commute to get there. You go right from the doctor to the pharmacy and have a private lobby area for waiting. Trust me, the wait is worth it. Especially considering that I'm uninsured, and the same trip would have cost me well over a couple of hundred dollars to go a regular acute care and pharmacy and probably taken just as long or longer.
(That said, I always call in my refill ahead of time...I only had to wait last time cuz I got a script for antibiotics for my tonsillitis so I had to wait for them to fill it.)
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