Listen To Me!
I'm not being narcissistic, but I do get irritated when patients are not paying attention to what I am telling them. Do you think I like repeating myself 24/7 on how to take the medicine and what side effects to watch out for? I would love to just collect the money from you and send you on your way without any counseling if you much prefer talking on your cell phone. Or if you prefer to zone out and go on some space adventure give me Scotty's number, I'll get him to beam the medicine to you. However, it is mandatory for pharmacists to provide counseling for the medicine we dispensed, so I am bounded by law. Since I do not have a choice, then the least you can do is to show me some respect by listening to what I have to say about your medicine.
I don't care if it is just the usual cough and cold medicine. You might have forgotten that some of them may cause drowsiness and you really should not be driving, or operating machinery. I've just saved your life or your limbs. I don't care if it is just painkillers. You need to know which is for what level of pain, which are the ones to take after meals, and which ones not to mix. I've just saved you from paracetamol overdose, and experiencing gastric pain. I don't care if it is medicine you have been taking for the past one year. Just listen to me go through your medicine because you might have missed out on any changes in your drug regime during the consultation. Or other times, you remembered the doctor telling you of the changes, but the doctor in his/her hurry did not update the drug regime in the prescription. I've just prevented you from over/underdosing.
If all these still cannot convince you, then let me tell you a real life story, that was related to me by somebody, of how a man from Singapore died. This man was on insulin for his diabetes and was okay until one day he decided to jab himself with insulin just before boarding the plane, and went into a hypoglycemic episode. Stupid. You should know your regular insulin starts working in 15-30 mins' time, and no flights serve meals that soon. And this is not the first time you were traveling on a plane. Stupid. When counseling patients on insulin, we always tell them to carry hard candies, or a juice box where ever they go. Reason: in case of hypoglycemic episodes they can load themselves with sugar and temporarily relief the hypoglycemia, after which it MUST be followed by a proper meal. Stupid. If you were already hypoglycemic, and without your juice box, get help from the flight attendants immediately. Not wait till you were almost going into a coma. Stupid. You already had a close call with death, but you had to go jab yourself with insulin and forget to take your meal. And this time you were at home!
Anyway, the story ends here. This stupid man met his maker, and to be frank, I do not feel sorry for him. All the above things I've mentioned are things we always tell patients on insulin. We teach them the signs and symptoms of a hypoglycemic episode. We teach them what to do if they are hypoglycemic, and we remind them again, and again, that they must remember to take their meals after jabbing themselves with insulin. See all the important things you will miss if you do not pay attention to your pharmacist?
I don't care if it is just the usual cough and cold medicine. You might have forgotten that some of them may cause drowsiness and you really should not be driving, or operating machinery. I've just saved your life or your limbs. I don't care if it is just painkillers. You need to know which is for what level of pain, which are the ones to take after meals, and which ones not to mix. I've just saved you from paracetamol overdose, and experiencing gastric pain. I don't care if it is medicine you have been taking for the past one year. Just listen to me go through your medicine because you might have missed out on any changes in your drug regime during the consultation. Or other times, you remembered the doctor telling you of the changes, but the doctor in his/her hurry did not update the drug regime in the prescription. I've just prevented you from over/underdosing.
If all these still cannot convince you, then let me tell you a real life story, that was related to me by somebody, of how a man from Singapore died. This man was on insulin for his diabetes and was okay until one day he decided to jab himself with insulin just before boarding the plane, and went into a hypoglycemic episode. Stupid. You should know your regular insulin starts working in 15-30 mins' time, and no flights serve meals that soon. And this is not the first time you were traveling on a plane. Stupid. When counseling patients on insulin, we always tell them to carry hard candies, or a juice box where ever they go. Reason: in case of hypoglycemic episodes they can load themselves with sugar and temporarily relief the hypoglycemia, after which it MUST be followed by a proper meal. Stupid. If you were already hypoglycemic, and without your juice box, get help from the flight attendants immediately. Not wait till you were almost going into a coma. Stupid. You already had a close call with death, but you had to go jab yourself with insulin and forget to take your meal. And this time you were at home!
Anyway, the story ends here. This stupid man met his maker, and to be frank, I do not feel sorry for him. All the above things I've mentioned are things we always tell patients on insulin. We teach them the signs and symptoms of a hypoglycemic episode. We teach them what to do if they are hypoglycemic, and we remind them again, and again, that they must remember to take their meals after jabbing themselves with insulin. See all the important things you will miss if you do not pay attention to your pharmacist?
posted by Yamosh at 8:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home