fine sir, I'll take your money.

So the other day we had a patient come in--He was picking up Livalo, which really, I don't see any benefit in other than you can drink grapefruit juice, and his copay was $120. At the register I said, "if this drug becomes too cost prohibitive, Lipitor just went generic and that is the statin that I would recommend." "Thanks," he said, and in the most self-righteous, condescending voice I've ever heard, "but I only take drug recommendations from MY DOCTOR." Um okay, but I can tell you right now that I know more about the pharmacology of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors than your PCP will ever care to. I proceed to tell him that if he experiences any muscle pain with this drug, he should contact his doctor immediately, "MY DOCTOR said that this drug won't cause that," Umm... your frickin doctor lied to you. Sorry. Muscle pain was reported in 4% of patients taking this drug which is EXACTLY the same as with simvastatin, and if you get myalgias with one (which is why the doctor switched him) you are more likely to get it with another. At this point, I wanted to say screw you and walk away but I smiled, took his $120 and said "Have a nice day."

Friends, Romans, and annoying patients, I am a DOCTOR of Pharmacy. I studied this stuff for 4 years. I'm not just making things up. I am not trying to steer you astray when I make recommendations; I'm usually trying to save you money, or you know, your vital organs. Believe it or not, but I know more about all of your drugs and how they interact with each other than your doctor does. Really. I promise.

few requirements

Ashleigh and I were working and discussing my abysmal social life as well as a certain patient of ours. Ash decided to look up his age and said, "Hey, he's 26 and fairly cute, why don't you date him?" To which I replied while bagging his Abilify, "I have few requirements of the guys I date, but not being on anti-psychotics is one of them."

Silly patients

For some reason a patient and I were talking about how the crime rate in Boise must be much higher than the crime rate in Orem, mostly because Orem is like 99% mormon and I guess mormons don't commit crimes... anyway... so I mentioned that Boise isn't nearly as bad as Pocatello, which happens to be my least favorite place on earth and also happens to have the highest meth use rate like, anywhere. "Oh," he said, "so that's how you learned to compound drugs, perhaps you should be using that skill more often." If I did learn how to cook meth in pharmacy school, I think I'd quit my day job and just do that.

Jeremy Hoven

James B. Kelleher

CHICAGO | Thu Sep 8, 2011 3:11pm EDT

(Reuters) - A pharmacist fired by the nation's largest drugstore chain after he foiled a late-night armed robbery of his Michigan store by shooting at the gunmen has sued Walgreens for wrongful termination.

The federal suit accuses Walgreens of violating Jeremy Hoven's civil rights when it terminated his employment in May just days after the attempted holdup of the store where he had worked for over five years.

According to the lawsuit, two masked gunmen entered Hoven's store in Benton Harbor, Michigan, before dawn on May 8 when he and three other employees were working.

Hoven tried to call 911. But before he could get through, one of the gunmen -- holding another Walgreens co-worker at gunpoint -- jumped over the pharmacy counter, pointed his weapon at Hoven and began "jerking the gun's trigger," the lawsuit said.

Hoven, who obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon after the same store was robbed while he worked in 2007, drew his gun and fired several times, prompting the gunmen to flee, according to the lawsuit.

No employees or customers were hurt in the incident. But about a week later, Hoven was fired for violating Walgreens' "non-escalation policy" as well as a policy barring employees from carrying weapons while they work.

Tiffani Washington, a spokeswoman for the Illinois-based company, said Hoven's actions broke procedures that Walgreens' developed in cooperation with law enforcement.

"Our policies in this area are created to maintain maximum safety for our customers and employees," Washington said.

"Our employees receive very comprehensive training on what to do in the event of this kind of situation ... Compliance is safer than confrontation."

Hoven said he was exercising his right to defend himself and his fellow employees and his right to carry a concealed weapon. He said his firing violates, among other things, his constitutional right to bear arms.

In its official response to the lawsuit, Walgreens lawyers denied most of Hoven's claims, including that there was an armed robbery in progress. They say the company, which operates more than 8,000 stores in the United States, had a "plausible and legitimate business reason to justify the firing."

In response, Hoven's attorneys have released a video of the incident taken by the store's surveillance cameras that shows an armed man dragging an employee through the store and then hopping over the pharmacy counter.

After Hoven fires his weapon at the man, the gunman flees the store, dropping his weapon on the way out.





Time to get my concealed weapons permit.

druggies...

Amber and I now have may stories about a particular patient which we will be posting periodically. One of the more recent ones is as follows...

Our favorite patient just got kicked out of the pain clinic for being well... a druggie. He comes in with a prescription for cyclobenzaprine and asks Gary, point blank, if this will make him high. I'm glad he asked Gary because I think I would have just laughed in his face, and I'm really good at keeping my composure. Most of the time...

vanco

Our cost for 5 grams of vancomycin capsules... $500
Our cost for 5 grams of vancomycin suspension... $35

Do they sell ANY capsules, EVER? Come now manufacturer, it can't be that hard to produce those capsules...

Levitra clock

So, I had a Levitra clock in college. I asked my pharmacy student roommate if I could put it on the wall. She was fine with it but said that I should ask my dental hygiene roommate if she was ok with it. She asked me "what does that drug do?" and I giggled and ran and put it on the wall. Later, she was watching TV and a Levitra commercial came on. She looked at the TV, at the clock, at the TV, at the clock, and yelled "SSSAARRRAAAHHH!!!!"

Golden Weenie Award

Weiner Schnitzel is having their 50th year anniversary and is celebrating by giving everyone a free golden weenie antenna topper. We got 4 of them in the pharmacy and proceeded to tape them up next to the Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra.

in hiding

Yesterday, we hid from a patient. He called in his prescription for Xanax 90 seconds before we closed. The tech said we might still be there if he came right away. Ten minutes after we had closed and right before we walked out, he drove up. He peaked in the window and we both ducked. He knocked on the door and we hid. When we didn't come, he didn't leave, but proceeded to knock on the back door. He waited outside the closed pharmacy for 15 minutes. He finally drove away and we escaped unscathed.

grr...

So I just took the job of a male pharmacist in Utah. People in Utah are sexist. I was talking to a patient and she said, "can I talk with the pharmacist?"
"That's me"
"Oh... well, what about the druggist?"
"That would be me"
"Oh, are you the same as the men?"
"Yes."
"Well, I don't know if you can answer my question or not, but what should I take for anemia?"
"Iron"
"Ok"
The newest technician could have answered that question.

There's another patient that refuses to talk to me because I'm a woman.
Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm incompetent, people.

Scabies

I took down prescriptions for 9 family members for stromectol and permethrin cream to treat scabies. The nurse on the phone said, "eh, just give them 4 tubes of permethrin--they share everything else anyway..."