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By persimmon (Wed May 02, 2007 at 08:08:07 PM EST) things you never thought you'd be excited about, not failing therapeutics, sleeping through my first midterm of the program and passing anyway, going really grey and getting old before my time, trying to figure out what the hell I'm going to do with my degree (all tags)

My rotations don't completely suck! Non-detailed elaboration inside.

So for the last nearly-three years, I've been in pharmacy school--which is a four-year professional doctorate program, and if I ever hear you asking why your thirty pills take twenty minutes to count out, or comparing me to that clerk who wouldn't scan the pork product, I will grind your face into my Retail Pharmacy FAQ using my big new high-heeled boots.

Which I got because it's really hard to feel like a badass when you're wearing a white coat that doesn't cover your ass.

Anyway, the first three years of pharmacy school are academic, which means we rot in windowless lecture halls for 4 or more hours a day. The last year is clinical, which means we get tossed upon the mercies of considerate pharmacists in local practice who teach us how to do what they do for four weeks. These months are called "rotations", and the selection thereof is this huge stressy debacle involving us picking out several sites and assigning priorities and the School of Pharmacy using some arcane algorithm that uses our rankings to churn out rotation assignments that are the least bad for the most people.

Proof of how much I have changed in the last three years: I am really, really excited about getting the insurance company.

Proof of how much I haven't: I am also pretty excited about getting the hippie-dippie independent "integrative" pharmacy.

The end is in sight.

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Eep! | 22 comments (22 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

Awesome. by toxicfur (2.00 / 0) #1 Wed May 02, 2007 at 09:14:32 PM EST

I hope you have fun and that the next year flies. I've always wished I could do something like pharmacy or nursing and just skip ahead to the clinical rotations.

One thing I'm wondering, though - I get these pills in a pack, pre-sealed. So why does it take so long for the pharmacist to put them in a bag??? Just waiting for that high-heeled boot.... Just don't tell ana or tix, ok? ;)
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inspiritation: the effect of irritating someone so much it inspires them to do something about it. --BuggEye

I don't think our pharmacists touch registers by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #2 Wed May 02, 2007 at 10:54:10 PM EST

though their techs do, and would do a pork roast if you asked.

I only talk to real pharmacists about twice a year, for med changes.

Scarily, the second to last time I went for a refill, the tech recognized me and pulled out my script. Then again, we go there about twice a week.

we'd rather be talking to you by persimmon (4.00 / 1) #3 Thu May 03, 2007 at 12:06:30 AM EST

Checking up on efficacy and compliance at your refills, etc, and ringing you up would be a good enough time to do that if there were ever not a huge backlog of crap to check.

Except at bloody chains there's never enough time, because we have to compete with the goddamn Walgreens, the Pharmacy America Trusts (Much To Its Detriment) down the street.

When I worked 40 hours a week I recognized most of my patients and kept recent medical and social histories in my head. It was, I admit, kinda freaky.
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_{"Nature is such a fucking plagarist."}
[ Parent ]

What's wrong with Walgreen's? by ammoniacal (2.00 / 0) #11 Thu May 03, 2007 at 02:16:38 PM EST

Aside from their toy selection, which sucks ass.

Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.
[ Parent ]

Their people by dn (2.00 / 0) #12 Thu May 03, 2007 at 07:54:07 PM EST

The employees at my local Walgreens are incompetent, overloaded, and willfully unhelpful. The company seems to scrape the bottom of the barrel and then work the people too hard.

I ♥
TOXIC
WASTE

[ Parent ]

: You mis-spelt Wal*Mart. by ammoniacal (2.00 / 0) #14 Thu May 03, 2007 at 08:44:19 PM EST

Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.
[ Parent ]

in particular by persimmon (2.00 / 0) #13 Thu May 03, 2007 at 08:14:59 PM EST

Their inability to retain pharmacy staff who speak English well. The transfers I've done to or from Walgreens that went off without a hitch generally turned out to be conducted with classmates of mine.

They also pay bonuses based on how fast prescriptions are filled. Because, you know, clinical outcomes depend on raw speed and not accuracy, adherence or good patient education.

Oh, and they started the drive-through trend, which is demeaning, privacy-violating and really stupid.
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_{"Nature is such a fucking plagarist."}
[ Parent ]

How does it violate privacy? by ammoniacal (2.00 / 0) #15 Thu May 03, 2007 at 08:49:35 PM EST

I'd rather hear the tech's banter from inside my car, instead of dealing with the dorks eavesdropping at the counter.

THIS IS VIAGRA. YOU SHOULD TAKE IT AT LEAST ONE HOUR PRIOR TO INTERCOURSE.

DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR VIAGRA PRESCRIPTION?

I'll take the drive-thru, thanks.

Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.
[ Parent ]

drive through has the intercom thingy by persimmon (2.00 / 0) #16 Thu May 03, 2007 at 09:17:53 PM EST

Amplification of which means all and sundry can hear that Lasix is gonna make the guy pee like a racehorse. I think racehorses might pee because they're diuresed, actually.

Drive-throughs also give people the impression they can drive up with a new prescription and sit there while it's being filled.

Also, techs shouldn't be counselling. Sic the Board on 'em.
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_{"Nature is such a fucking plagarist."}
[ Parent ]

I see. by ammoniacal (2.00 / 0) #17 Thu May 03, 2007 at 10:51:50 PM EST

As I can read the papers that come with the meds, I'll take whichever counseling 'droid that gets me out of there quickly.

Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.
[ Parent ]

perhaps I phrased that ambiguously by persimmon (2.00 / 0) #18 Fri May 04, 2007 at 12:02:16 AM EST

Technicians are not legally permitted to counsel.

Perhaps you and Walgreens deserve each other.
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_{"Nature is such a fucking plagarist."}
[ Parent ]

: Who ever delivers my narcotics quickest by ammoniacal (2.00 / 0) #19 Fri May 04, 2007 at 01:42:41 AM EST

deserves my business.
Irony: ammo says it's time. Tom is blocked.
[ Parent ]

Whoa.... by MohammedNiyalSayeed (2.00 / 0) #5 Thu May 03, 2007 at 01:21:26 AM EST

I'm heading down to the Walgreen's to get myself a friggin' pork roast! Do you think they'll do dessert?

-
You can build the most elegant fountain in the world, but eventually a winged rat will be using it as a drinking bowl.
[ Parent ]

Tell us where and when. by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #4 Thu May 03, 2007 at 12:24:00 AM EST

I work in the big city now and I could come and visit.

So when does your career start?

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.

I can't use a local pharacist any more. by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #6 Thu May 03, 2007 at 10:37:01 AM EST

The insurance company makes it three times more expensive if you don't use their mail order place.
--

That's steep, I would save $5 a month by georgeha (2.00 / 0) #7 Thu May 03, 2007 at 10:49:32 AM EST

using a 90 day supply, for the expensive ones ($30 copay). So far they keep changing, so I haven't bothered with it.

[ Parent ]

Tiers by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #8 Thu May 03, 2007 at 11:46:23 AM EST

I was able to get one drug changed from a Tier 1 to a Tier 3 generic. That's a change from $45 to $10 per month (or 90 days if mail order). Test strips and lancets are still Tier 2, at $25 each per month or 90 days (if mail order). Lancets don't cost the co-pay per month (they're like 1¢ each) and I don't change them until they're pretty dull, so a box of 100 will last quite a while. Strips, though, are about $1 each and I go through three or four a day.
--

[ Parent ]

I'm lucky, all my personal meds are generic by georgeha (2.00 / 0) #9 Thu May 03, 2007 at 11:54:12 AM EST

though I did get stung with Mobic once, instead of good old meloxicam. I'm not sure is the patents have expired yet for the SSRIs, ADs and ADD drugs the rest of the family takes.

[ Parent ]

if you're really curious by persimmon (2.00 / 0) #20 Fri May 11, 2007 at 02:47:41 PM EST

I can probably tell you off the top of my head.

Luvox (fluvoxamine): yes, but it's a dumb drug and nobody uses it.
Paxil (fluoxetine): y
Prozac (paroxetine): y
Celexa (citalopram): yes
Lexapro (excitalopram): no
Zoloft (sertraline): yes
Effexor (venlafaxine): yes (actually an SNRI)
Effexor XR: no
Cymbalta (duloxetine): no (also not really an SSRI)

Strattera (atamoxetine): no
Ritalin (immediate-release methylphenidate): yes
Ritalin ER (sustained-release methylphenidate): yes
Ritalin LA: no
Metadate CD: no
Focalin (dexmethylphenidate): no
Metadate: no
Adderall (mixed salts of a single-entity amphetamine product): yes
Adderall XR: no

If AD is antidiabetic, then yes for almost everything oral except Avandia, Actos, Januvia, Starlix and Prandin (and their spinoffs), and no for all the injectables.

Otherwise, probably not.
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_{"Nature is such a fucking plagarist."}
[ Parent ]

Nope, the docs like the XRs by georgeha (2.00 / 0) #21 Fri May 11, 2007 at 02:49:21 PM EST

and what about antipsychotics like Risperdal?

[ Parent ]

: depends what you mean by persimmon (2.00 / 0) #22 Fri May 11, 2007 at 08:19:46 PM EST

Old antipsychotics: yes, except nobody wants to use them because of the side effects and likelihood that patients won't actually take them.
That said:
Clozaril (clozapine): yes, but some nasty side effects like neglecting to make various blood cells
Risperdal (risperidone): late this year; see the next one
Invega (paliperidone): no (a derivative of risperidone)
Geodon (zisprasidone): no
Zyprexa (olanzapine): no
Seroquel (quetiapine): no
Abilify (aripiprazole): no
Oh, and for ADD drugs, I forgot
Catapres (clonidine): yes, although it seems like a dumb drug for this indication.
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_{"Nature is such a fucking plagarist."}
[ Parent ]

details by alprazolam (2.00 / 0) #10 Thu May 03, 2007 at 01:38:33 PM EST

i'd like to hear more about your high heeled boots and uncovered ass.

Eep! | 22 comments (22 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback