Holy opioids.
That's one thing I have to say about the new place of employment - some docs are not afraid to prescribe opioids for pain. Granted, I am serving a different population and many of my new customers have cancer pain.
Today, I dispensed 360 OxyContin 80mg tablets, 360 Percocet 10/325mg tablets, 240 carisoprodol 350mg tablets, and 90 diazepam 10mg tablets to THE SAME PATIENT. It's amazing to me that he's even walking around.
It really reinforces what they told us in pharmacy school: there is no ceiling dose for morphine. It's all about tolerance.
This is not our only patient on crazy high doses of pain meds, he is one of many. All of the prescriptions are legal and the patients were titrated up to doses that high, but it still really blows my mind. I'm used to dispensing 60 OxyContin 10mg or 20mg tablets at a time - I am not sure I had EVER dispensed the 80mg tabs until I worked here.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
You have the power
If any of you out there are retail pharmacists working for a corporation and hating it, here is a word of advice.
LEAVE
You have the power. There is a pharmacist shortage. Quit letting them boss you around, micromanage your vacation time, and undermine your every decision. You are professionals. You deserve to be treated like one.
There is a regional manager working for a corporation in my area who recently quit. Why? His wife had a baby very prematurely. The baby was in the NICU and he wanted to be there with his wife. The corporation told him that he couldn't have any time off, so he quit. He has the right idea - he can go get a new job anywhere, but they cannot find a replacement regional manager so easily. (By the way, regional pharmacy manager has the be THE WORST job of the all time. Can you imagine? Dealing with customer complaints, penny pushing, etc).
My new job is awesome, lots of compouding. I feel like I'm using my brain again. The only downside I can see is potential unwanted hair growth and hormone imbalances from all the progesterone, estriol, liothyronine, testosterone, DHEA dust that I'm inhaling. Maybe I should start wearing a mask....
LEAVE
You have the power. There is a pharmacist shortage. Quit letting them boss you around, micromanage your vacation time, and undermine your every decision. You are professionals. You deserve to be treated like one.
There is a regional manager working for a corporation in my area who recently quit. Why? His wife had a baby very prematurely. The baby was in the NICU and he wanted to be there with his wife. The corporation told him that he couldn't have any time off, so he quit. He has the right idea - he can go get a new job anywhere, but they cannot find a replacement regional manager so easily. (By the way, regional pharmacy manager has the be THE WORST job of the all time. Can you imagine? Dealing with customer complaints, penny pushing, etc).
My new job is awesome, lots of compouding. I feel like I'm using my brain again. The only downside I can see is potential unwanted hair growth and hormone imbalances from all the progesterone, estriol, liothyronine, testosterone, DHEA dust that I'm inhaling. Maybe I should start wearing a mask....
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