Friday, December 11, 2009

Fred Eckel Proves Me Wrong.

It was about a week ago I took Fred Eckel, the editor of Pharmacy Times, to task after he implied in his column that the problems of retail pharmacy are mainly the attitudes of retail pharmacists. An out of touch, pompous, smug little ivory tower egghead I said.

But is he, really? Here's an actual picture of the "balloon box" quote from his last column:



Um, yes. Yes he is. I.....I think....(chuckle) maybe the last time this guy may have filled a prescription....wait....hold on......

I can't hold it anymore....

BBBBWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAHAHHHHHHAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAAHHHHHAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAD NOT REALIZED THE LENGTHS SOME PEOPLE GO TO OBTAIN NARCOTIC MEDICATION???????? BBBBWWWWWWWWWAAAAAHHHHAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAA........oh God......can't breathe....must stop laughing to breathe.....

Hey, Fred, you ever hear of or see homeless people? You know, the dudes who stand on the corner and ask you for your change as you walk by? This may amaze you, but almost none of them aspired to do that kind of thing with their lives. Some are mentally ill.....but others....they have lost their friends, their family and their home, everything, literally everything, and are now living a life of filth and pain and misery... because they're desperate for their next fix. That is the length some people will go to to obtain narcotic medication. So while that quote of yours may be an appropriate statement for someone who lives on Mars, I would think it should be an embarrassment for anyone on Earth, and in the pharmacy profession in particular, to utter. Even more so to have published in a magazine. And featured in a way that it is the first thing on the page to grab the attention of the eye.

Or maybe you just think those people are out camping as you drive by. And maybe you really do think customers lose their Vicodin down the sink every third day.

So did Fred spend 5 minutes in a Walgreens to come up with this little brainstorm? No, and here's where it gets even better. Mr. Professor at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had to find out the extent of people's love of narcotics... at a meeting. Where a study was presented.

I almost feel sorry for him.

"Practical Information For Today's Pharmacist" proclaims the cover of Pharmacy Times, and they let Fred write the opening column in each issue anyway. I look forward to the after-action report from his next meeting, where perhaps he'll learn insurance company co-pays go up, and that makes some customers unhappy.

Goddamn idiot.

16 comments:

Frank, CPhT said...

So Mr. Drug Monkey, tell us how you REALLY feel about Mr. Eckel...

Anonymous said...

i plan on attending pharmacy school at chapel hill... this really makes me nervous about some of the ideas they will want me to swallow.

Ohio RPh said...

Fake scripts are just part of it. In my market we have a policy that patients must bring in Oxycontin prescriptions & wait up to 72 hours so it can be ordered for them. NEVER admit to having it in store. I'm sure this isn't for our personal welfare but is because armed robbery closes the store down for at least a couple of hours. Thus far nobody has been killed. Kidnapped, but not killed. It's not just robbery that's a concern these days. A Kentucky physician was just murdered by a patient because he wouldn't write an Rx - kind of makes you wonder what might happen if you refuse to fill the wrong person's prescription or don't give them that early refill. I'm not near the border but the people from the border & Kentucky travel for hours just to try and fill prescriptions. Shit is crazy around here. When the store slows down there's that thought in the back of your head...is today the day? Addicts go to great lengths, who knew? Has Mr. Eckel even been in a retail pharmacy within the past decade?

Anonymous said...

Tindaa, run for your life girlfriend. I am old and broken down-- for me pharmacy is a life sentence--but you can save yourself. Do anything else.

Anonymous said...

Agreed. Run Tindaa. Run towards something you love to do. This is not worth the money. If only I had a time machine...

Scritches.com said...

OT

why, Why, WHY when I'm truly sick and miserable and desperately need the non-narcotic drugs the doctor has just prescribed . . . WHY do I always end up behind a little old lady who insists on talking with the pharmacist and not the tech so she can talk about the integral differences between three OTC drugs, all of which are alike. Followed by a detailed philosophical discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of liquid form verus caplet form, and while she's at it could the dear kind pharmacist explain to her again the differences in the Medicare payment plan for drugs?

And I am stuck there, dying, with Evil Thoughts in my head about whacking this old person to the side, and grabbing the pharmacist by the white jacket lapels to demand that it's been more than 20 minutes dammit and I want my drugs NOW.

But I'm a civilized person and far too ill to whack even myself on the head so I just slump a little closer to the floor and hope the paramedics will be able to revive me when I pass out on the cold hard floor, with the little old lady's voice in my ear, "Now, these little red ones . . . here, just a minute now, let me see if I put them in my purse . . . ."

Why is that????

Anonymous said...

I still have 5 years to pay off my student loans and I'm already plotting another career change...

DrugMonkey, Master of Pharmacy said...

Because, dear parrot, those little old ladies are 90% of our customers.

Be thankful you only had to deal with her once today.

woolywoman said...

Now I have snorted beverage out my nose.

The Redheaded Pharmacist said...

Some people are just out of touch with what really goes on in reatail pharmacies. I think that is the problem with some of the executives at the company I work for now. They just don't get it. And yes, some pharmacists have bad attitudes but honestly there are sometimes good reasons why your local pharmacist isn't feeling the holiday spirit. Many are overworked and don't even get breaks and we all have to deal with the kind of customers that if you saw on the street and they treated you the same way you'd knock out a couple of their teeth.

Maybe Eckel should work a shift at a local chain pharmacy sometime and get a real feel for what goes on and then he can pass judgement on those of us to face the madness of retail every work day! Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

I wasn't going to even read that column but I recognized his name from your other blog. I had the exact same reaction---what a fucking idiot---it would be one thing to think that but to admit it in a journal that is, as you quoted, supposed to be for "Today's Pharmacist".... I can't imagine any REAL pharmacist not knowing the lengths people would go to. Does he watch TV?? Has he heard of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Jackson, etc....he never had an ounce of respect from me but now, now I think I will never pick up that magazine again, even for my free CE's.. still shaking my head

And remind to stay away from Kentucky!! Now THAT is something I can't even imagine our customers doing--shooting a doctor!!

Anonymous said...

Not until something very bad happens, something national news/ CNN type bad, will anyone outside of retail understand what we deal with. The general public doesn't care about anyone other than themselves. They don't care about what we know or how much effort it took to be allowed to stand behind the counter with the white lab coat on. What's worse is that this tard, who is supposed to be an educator of young pharmacists, doesn't know either. Run away kids. Do something else with your life. And for the love of god if you do decide to torture yourself for the next 40 years of your life, DO NOT take a sign-on bonus unless you want to be an indentured servant for 3-5 years. Oh, fuck this Fred Eckel prick too.

Anonymous said...

I don't live in the hood, and we've had 2 doctors killed for not forking over a hill billy heroin RX in the past four years.

Eckel is a delusional turd. Him saying that is like George Bush Sr. marveling that there are scanners in the grocery stores.

Drug Monkey, how many excuses of household pets scarf down the pain meds do you get a week? Hell any CII..

LD50 Rat

AustralianPharma said...

There seems to be this out-of-touch attitude with those in academia or clinical pharmacy roles. I personally have done both and I have an appreciation for the difficulties of both. I have noticed an ignorance of those which have not been exposed (or not exposed long enough) to retail pharmacy. I'm not sure what the climate is in the US, I'm writing from Australia, but I have noticed this clinical/academic (or egghead!) superiority mindset there is, and almost that those in the clinical line look down upon us retail pharmacists. As I mentioned, I have experience in both fields, and while clinical can be very challenging, retail is much tougher for many reasons. It unfortunate that these clinicals do 8 hours every month or two at retail and boast how easy it is compared to what they do. Normally they've been fortunate enough to work with another pharmacist because they probably wouldn't know what to do on their own, or have had a lucky quiet day (quiet store).

However, in retail pharmacy, there is less of a safety net. It's just you, a whole lot of scripts, and the general public bearing down on you, trying to pry some narcotics out of your hand, hold you up, or being in their bleeding friend for you to patch up. That is what I admire most about, especially the sole, retail pharmacist. It's just them holding down the fort. Yes, we have pharmacy assistants and technicians, and if we are lucky there are knowledgeable and there to help, but in the end, we are the pharmacist on duty and any important decision or situation comes down to our judgment, no backups.

I can't help but roll my eyes when I hear a snooty comment looking down on retail pharmacy. We are the ones dealing with the customers in the middle of the night, calling ambulances for people that we have detected may have more than just a little heartburn, and participating in methadone programs which help serve the community.

I'm not putting clinical pharmacy down or saying one is lesser than the other, it just worries me when we have cases as the one you mentioned where our 'own' people, our fellow pharmacists, have no idea what is going on.

I'm finding your blog a much more useful way of finding out about the US pharmacy system than some of the 'official' sources...

I forgot to say G'day (apparently all Australians say that...apparently)

AustralianPharma
http://askapharmacist.com.au

Từ Thanh Giác said...

I learned about the length that they would go when I was in high school working as a delivery boy at a pharmacy.

What will be his next discovery? Perhaps it will be that some people do not follow the directions on the label.

Anonymous said...

Every retail pharmacist knows, "Invest in opium futures" It's a sure winner.