Ok, do you think I jinxed myself this morning when I posted about a “normal day”? Because today was anything but.
I walked into the pharmacy at 10:30 (the pharmacy opens at 9am). I was pleasantly surprised to see that the counter was clear, so I commented on it. “Yeah, that’s because I haven’t done any prescriptions yet,” replied the pharmacist. “What?!” I gasped.
Just a little back story The pharmacy manager is on vacation this week, which means we get a bunch of “floater” pharmacists that don’t normally work at the store to come in. They keep the floater key/alarm passcode locked in the safe. The store manager and assistant managers are supposed make sure it stays there when not in use.
Ok, back to the story. So, they couldn’t find the key this morning. The manager on duty was frantically searching for it. Finally, about 10:00 they decided to get the “core” key (the one that doesn’t say do not copy, and theoretically isn’t supposed to be used) out of the store manager’s office.
So, the pharmacist gets in the pharmacy, turns everything on, checks voicemail, starts filling prescriptions for patients that are waiting, etc. Meanwhile, the manager is trying to find they key. They call the pharmacist that had it last, who said she gave it to the closing manager that night (Wednesday.) Wouldn’t you know that manager had left town and is unreachable?
When I walked in at 10:30, maybe 5 prescriptions had been done. I looked at the order. “Oh, no, only four totes Someone forgot to send part of the order.” (This later turned out to be wrong when I found out they had only done 47 scripts yesterday.)
When I look at the computer, there are 32 refills that need to be done. 32! We don’t do that many prescriptions on a whole Sunday. So, I start putting them through. One by one, the labels print out. Most of them sit there until late in the afternoon.
Around 11:00, in comes the flood of people. And of course they don’t just have one prescription; they have 2, or 3. (One even had 5, though we didn’t have two of them.) So, on we go. Antibiotic, antibiotic, antibiotic, vicodin, antibiotic. (The weather changes in DC have been brutal in the past week, I’m not surprised.)
One hiccup happened when someone came in with a script for percocet, which, along with other narcotics, is kept in a locked safe. Well, don’t you know, the core key doesn’t open the safe (like the regular pharmacy keys do.) Thankfully, by this point, they had managed to contact the manager who last had the key, and she said it was locked in her office, to which she has the only key.
So, the maintenance guy has to break into her office, and then into the file cabinet where the key is, and gets it to us just in time to finish the percocet without the guest having to wait. “Whew! At least we can fill narcotics now!” we said. (We didn’t do a single narcotic script the rest of the day. Go figure.)
Ok, so it’s now, what 12:30? Yeah. By this point the counter is filling up with waiters, mostly, again, antibiotics and pain relievers. (We haven’t even gotten to the refills that were still sitting on the printer.) A lady comes up asking for a prescription, which had been faxed in, and was in the middle of a stack of other faxes that are piled neatly by the computer, waiting to be typed in.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, we’ve been backed up today, and haven’t had a chance to work on it.”
“What! I stood there while my doctor faxed it three hours ago! I can’t believe this service. I’m going to a different pharmacy. Give me the prescription!” (like the “doctor” was actually the one using the fax machine. Most of them don’t even use a phone.)
“I’m sorry, I can’t give you the fax. Just give us a few minutes, and we’ll fill it.”
“Well…OK, but after this I’m never coming here again!” (I’m sure you can guess what I wanted to say at that point.)
So, a few minutes later, she leaves, prescription in hand. Things settle down into a steady, if quick, flow. We decided to order lunch from Panera, and the pharmacist treated. Around 1:30 (which is when the pharmacist’s lunch is supposed too start.) I went over to pick up our order, trying to find someone to pay attention to me, as always.
When I got back, there was another rush, so I sat the bag of food down, and went to help fill. By 2:00, all the waiters were finished, and I ate lunch first since I was so hungry (what a bad day to have not eaten breakfast.) When my lunch is over, we get another rush that lasts until 3:00. The pharmacist started her lunch about 3:15, so I started trying to clear the counter (or at least organize it).
I took in about six scripts while the pharmacist was at lunch, so I worked on them. Two people walked off because I told them their prescription wouldn’t be done for 45 minutes. The others grudgingly agreed to wait. (“I hope your pharmacist is a prompt one,” said one lady. Yeah, sure.)
When she came back from lunch, I started sorting the order, which was blissfully small. I finished it about 4pm (remember from this morning that it’s usually done by noon.) There was only one drug on order for a patient, so that was a big help; there are usually at least 4-5. They shorted us on one item, but I called and straightened it out. (They have great customer service. I guess it helps that we’re a 1,000+ store client for them.)
The flow settled back in. I mostly told people 25-30 minutes wait, not too much more than our usual 15-20 minutes. Around 6:00, I finally get around to filling out the invoices. After that, I work on more of the refills that were still on the printer. A little before seven, I reached down to get another label, and didn’t feel anything. Hallelujah!
After that, it was a pretty normal evening. We got the trash taken out, shredder emptied, supplies stocked. We ended up doing 105 prescriptions (our previous record was 101, a normal day usually between 70-80, at least during cold season.)
Oh yeah, did I mention I had only gotten like 2 hours of sleep the night before? Well, at least tomorrow’s Saturday. I’ll be able to sleep in. (Oh wait, I forgot, I have something to do. Dangit!)