Attitude Problem?
Okay, I'm officially back to slamming the stupid patients.
I really got to give a hand to the dumb asses of humanity, they really think once they're out of school nobody's going to think they're dumb, or they can get away for being dumb.
Story goes that a stupid husband came to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine for the pregnant wife. I picked up the basket and started dispensing the medicine to the dumb husband. The doctor prescribed lactulose syrup, bisacodyl suppositories, Proctosedyl suppositories, and Flagystatin pessaries. For the sake of the general masses who are not familiar with these medicines, lactulose and bisacodyl are laxatives, Proctosedyl is for piles, and Flagystatin has got an antibiotic and an anti-fungal used for treating vaginal infection.
Lactulose was easy enough, but my torture started when I began counseling the suppositories. The stupid excuse of a human being, kept saying the bisacodyl suppository was for oral taking when I repeated and corrected him multiple times that the suppository is for insertion into the rectum. I even wrote the instructions for him in Chinese together with the phrase "not for oral taking" on the drug label.
When I got to Proctosedyl suppositories, I think his brain has no more memory space left. Wrote out for him in Chinese what the medicine is for and how to use it, and he still asked if it was for oral taking. And he even asked if Proctosedyl and the bisacodyl suppositories are the same. I nearly fainted, but I definitely lost all patience with him. How difficult is it to comprehend that bisacodyl is for constipation and Proctosedyl is for piles?! Even if he cannot remember which is which, surely any normal human being can tell they are not the same!
When he started saying I've got attitude problem, I really felt like telling him I'll give him real attitude problem. Just pretend I didn't hear anything he said and let him tell his wife the pessaries and suppositories are to be taken orally. If I have a attitude problem I would not have bothered correcting his mistakes. After all I've done my job translating (verbally and in writing), counseling, and explaining how to take/ use the medicine.
I really got to give a hand to the dumb asses of humanity, they really think once they're out of school nobody's going to think they're dumb, or they can get away for being dumb.
Story goes that a stupid husband came to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine for the pregnant wife. I picked up the basket and started dispensing the medicine to the dumb husband. The doctor prescribed lactulose syrup, bisacodyl suppositories, Proctosedyl suppositories, and Flagystatin pessaries. For the sake of the general masses who are not familiar with these medicines, lactulose and bisacodyl are laxatives, Proctosedyl is for piles, and Flagystatin has got an antibiotic and an anti-fungal used for treating vaginal infection.
Lactulose was easy enough, but my torture started when I began counseling the suppositories. The stupid excuse of a human being, kept saying the bisacodyl suppository was for oral taking when I repeated and corrected him multiple times that the suppository is for insertion into the rectum. I even wrote the instructions for him in Chinese together with the phrase "not for oral taking" on the drug label.
When I got to Proctosedyl suppositories, I think his brain has no more memory space left. Wrote out for him in Chinese what the medicine is for and how to use it, and he still asked if it was for oral taking. And he even asked if Proctosedyl and the bisacodyl suppositories are the same. I nearly fainted, but I definitely lost all patience with him. How difficult is it to comprehend that bisacodyl is for constipation and Proctosedyl is for piles?! Even if he cannot remember which is which, surely any normal human being can tell they are not the same!
When he started saying I've got attitude problem, I really felt like telling him I'll give him real attitude problem. Just pretend I didn't hear anything he said and let him tell his wife the pessaries and suppositories are to be taken orally. If I have a attitude problem I would not have bothered correcting his mistakes. After all I've done my job translating (verbally and in writing), counseling, and explaining how to take/ use the medicine.
posted by Yamosh at 8:33 AM
8 Comments:
Sounds like you've got a lot of stories of people being dumb. I'm trying to collect a bunch of them. It'd be great if you went to dumbmedicine.com and shared a little. i'd really appreciate it.
Thanks!
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Hi there.
I recently wrote/shot a web series pilot called "Hard to Swallow" based on my experiences working at a small retail pharmacy. Found your blog and thought you might find it humorous.
Hope you enjoy it and share with whomever might need/enjoy a 6 minute break.
www.vimeo.com/channels/hardtoswallow
or try
www.funnyordie.com/videos/01b8bb3bea/hard-to-swallow
I think the system is beyond repair and doesn't show any REAL signs of reversal in favor of us consumers. Thanks to the "war on drugs" spilling over into laws and regulations and such, we consumers get to suffer a massive financial burden, both in regards to taxes and prescription drug prices. I hate to say it, but the era of local pharmacies is over. Online pharmacies are flourishing, and there's good reason for it. Generic meds are insanely inexpensive comparatively, and where there is a will, there is a way. As long as people are fed up with spending so much money on a bottle that weighs a few ounces, they (like me) are going to shop at places like Meds India and leave the brick-and-mortar stores in the dust.
Sorry to be off-topic if I am, I just gave up on my country's pharmacy system a long time ago. I respect pharmacists, but I've got to respect my pocketbook a little more. I'm sorry!
I LOVE your blog... I'm a more/less retired retail/hospital pharmacist that works for a "large" chain pharmacy and a "small" community hospital "when" I work. If I had known how pharmacists are totally disregarded, mistreated, used, & abused... I would have gone into engineering, or biology, or geology, anything but pharmacy. I recently retired this past January, but still work 1 or 2 days a month... but was injured "at home" in April and have not worked since June 1st. I cannot return to work until November 1st, and then I may not even do that. I'm so thankful when my husband comes home (not a pharmacist) and tell me about his "brutal" day and I think "I'm so blessed not to have to go to work and be screamed at, belittled (I'm a little tiny blond), and totally disrespected by ***holes... We don't have any money, but I do have "peace"...
I wish you well and as many peaceful days and you can steal...and talk about stupid patients... I could go on & on & on...one patient in particular went to 3 different pharmacies and asked if pharmacists had a special computer access to tell them when the patient is not suppoed to be getting controlled substances (too soon to fill)... and if their willing to pay cash the pharmacist has no right to refuse to fill the contgrolled substance prescription... oh, if she only knew the "rights" we do have... oh, and that pharmacists don't know anything about pain management "at the top of her lungs"... I swear if I had a terminal illness, I might just go "postal" on patients sometimes...
@pharmboy: I'll try, but no guarantees cos I'm hooked to Facebook at the moment as you can see from my long absence from blogging. Lol!
@Heng Seng: Eh fellow alien. How did you manage to find my blog?
@Fee: Are you based in Singapore?
@Damian: Things are a little different in Singapore. Government-linked hospitals and clinics usually stock generics in their pharmacies if possible so this keeps healthcare cost down for the general public. And in order to compete with these pharmacies, most private pharmacies would also stock some generic drugs as well.
@GoldTWH: Sorry to hear about your injury. Hope you're better now, and you'll continue to enjoy a peaceful life. :D
I always find it amazing how pharmacists all over the world can relate to one another through dumb patients. Lol!!
I love this site. It makes me remember the good ole time in pharmacy where all kind of people came to get their medicine and annoyed the pharmacist. I certainly would like to return to the pharmacy. ;)
Not at all surprising! Medical terminology in itself is so complicated, that it goes right over the head of a common man.
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