Tonight, I had a summer league basketball game. It's a men's league. It's ultimately meaningless, but the spirit of competition is strong in this league. Moreover, the talent level is pretty high, so it's a great outlet for my competitive drive.
We played the best team in the league tonight. This team has won this league for 4 years in a row. It's made up of a bunch of former all-state players, some stand-out athletes (one actually played major league soccer for a short time), and some guys who currently play in college.
One player on that team is generally considered the best player in the league. He graduated from a prep school a few years ago and went on to play for one of the best division 3 college basketball teams in the country. He's a 6'3" point guard who was a McDonald's All-American nominee (which isn't quite as spectacular as it sounds, but you still have to be a pretty solid player) in high school. He averaged over 20 points per game during his prep school days, and now starts for his college team.
He's a very good player. Very fundamentally sound. Good shooter. That said, anyone watching the game tonight would have said that I completely outplayed him.
Let me break that down: I'm a 5'9", 27 year old pharmacist who has chronic pain in his feet and ankles which isn't helped by spending 10 to 12 hours standing up at work. He's a 6'3", 20 year old, high level division 3 college basketball player who presumably keeps his conditioning up in the off-season in order to be ready for his college season. I outplayed him.
This wasn't a fluke either. I've played him before, and he simply cannot guard me. Granted, if I were to cover him, I wouldn't be able to guard him either because he has a lot of size on me. He'd just post me up all day. However, he's supposed to be a college point guard. He's supposed to be able to defend other point guards. I'm sure he's asked to guard the other team's point guard in every game he plays in college.
He can't guard me though. I'm too fast for him. Again, I'm 7 years older than him with a job that pretty much laughs in the face of anyone who tries to maintain a high level of fitness, and I'm too fast for him.
I scored 29 points tonight. I hit 7 three-pointers, most of which were the quick catch and shoot variety. I even got a chance to talk a little trash to this college player. I came down the right side of the court one time and realized I had a whole side cleared out. I crossed over hard to the left, and he bit on it. Off of the left cross, I quickly put the ball back through my legs to go right. He recovered a little bit, but he was completely on his heels, so I pumped the ball through my legs 2 more times really quickly as he kind of stammered backwards before finally just blowing right by him to the right. The only thing he could do was reach out and grab me so I wouldn't get an easy layup.
After that play, I just looked at him and proclaimed, "he's too slow," and I just repeated it a couple times for emphasis. He tried to talk trash right back to me, but what could he really say? I could get by him any time I wanted. He knew it. I knew it.
We ended up losing the game in overtime, but we really had no business being that close to that team. They're better than us. However, I'm so pleased with the way I played that I sort of consider it a moral victory.
You know... Maybe it is completely meaningless. You'll never find a stat sheet for this game. There's no media coverage of a men's summer league basketball game. There are no record books in this league. People will forget about this particular game within a couple of weeks.
It's not meaningless to me though. I knew I was never going to play in the NBA, and I chose my college for it's pharmacy program without regard to whether I could play basketball there (and for the record, I wouldn't have had a chance. I went to school at one of the best division 1 college basketball programs in the country). Even if I could have played college ball somewhere, I wouldn't have because I knew I had to build towards a future career. However, this shows me that I could have played at a higher level than high school. It shows me that the thousands of hours I spent dribbling a basketball when I was a kid weren't a total waste of my time.
Even if ultimately, whether I'm a good basketball player or not doesn't change my life in any meaningful way, I figure most other people spend plenty of time on meaningless endeavors. For example, how many people play golf in their spare time? How many of those are on the PGA Tour? Yet, they still all go out there trying to improve on their scores each time. People draw, paint, write, knit, and do countless other things to occupy their time. Do they not try to do as good a job as possible even if ultimately it won't get them anywhere?
Why should basketball be different? If anything, it's better than all that stuff. Basketball is a physically demanding sport. How many 27 year olds do you see that can go toe to toe with current college basketball players? Most of my friends have reached the age where they're starting to give up on basketball in favor of playing softball, which basically amounts to hanging out for a few innings just waiting to drink beer after the game. I, on the other hand, am still too fast for a college point guard. I can shoot a basketball as well as anyone, and I can dribble a basketball better than pretty much anyone.
It's something I'm proud of. I worked really hard and sacrificed a lot of time when I was young developing these skills. My basketball skills are obviously not readily apparent to people just meeting me. That's why I like it when people I know come to watch me play. It's a part of my personality that goes mostly unnoticed, but it's such a huge part of who I am. Sometimes, I feel like you can't truly understand me until you see me with a basketball in my hands. Some guys want to show off that they can play an instrument or cook well. I want to show that I'm a good basketball player. It's a form of self-expression to me.
Anyway... I rambled on for long enough. I'm just excited that I played so well tonight. Felt like sharing. Unfortunately, the virtual masses are my only audience at the moment.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
A Personality Flaw
I know, I know... You're all saying, "which one?" Yes, I have quite a few character flaws. However, this one recently came up, so that's what I'm going to write about.
Quite some time ago, I was talking to someone, and she commented that I liked to be right all the time. I responded, "doesn't everybody? Who wants to be wrong?"
She didn't even hesitate when she said, "But I feel like you just NEED to be right." I thought about it for a little bit, and realized that she was 100% correct. I have this overwhelming desire to be right about everything.
Now, that doesn't mean that I'm someone who thinks he's always right. There is a subtle but important difference between thinking you're always right and constantly wanting to be right. People who think they're always right don't listen or take into consideration what other people say. All they know is that they're right, everyone else is wrong, and they don't want to hear anything else.
I don't think I'm always right, and I certainly don't always think everyone else is wrong. However, I have this incredible desire to be right. Actually, it might be more appropriate to say that I have this need to know what is right. For example, if I'm talking to someone about a drug, and the other person thinks a drug works by one mechanism of action, while I think it has a different mechanism, I will stop whatever I'm doing to look up the answer and find out for sure whether I'm right or wrong.
I hate being wrong. In fact, I hate being wrong so much that I will pretty much never talk about a subject in which I'm not well versed. I will sit quietly for hours listening to other people talk until the conversation turns to a subject that I know well. Only then will I contribute.
However, if I do say something, and you happen to disagree with me, you better have a good argument or evidence to support your claim. I like to argue, and I will defend my position with every bit of logic and evidence I can come up with. Note, that I do not dismiss other people's thoughts or opinions, but I will make people defend them. If you make a comment or observation about something around me, I will question it, especially if it's something I don't agree with. If you choose not to defend your opinion or fail to come up with a logical or fact based argument in favor of it, I will dismiss it. However, if you push back at me as much as I push you to defend your opinion, I'll more than give you the proper credit. Moreover, I'll probably incorporate your thoughts into my own beliefs.
I don't really consider myself a strong person, but I believe I hold strong opinions about things. I also believe that most of the time, when I choose to say something, I'm usually right. Some people have told me that I can come across as arrogant and lacking modesty. A coworker once told me that it's like I know that I'm smarter than everyone else there, and I do nothing to make people think otherwise.
I can see how his would be annoying to people. However, I don't believe I'm arrogant at all. I'm also one of the most modest people you'll ever meet. I deflect flattery of any kind like it's a deadly disease. I shy away from praise. You can't say anything remotely nice about me without my face turning bright red in embarrassment. However, there's no such thing as modesty when it comes to being right or wrong. If someone says something that I know to be in error, I will correct it. I'm not going to just sit back and let people spread false information and uninformed opinions, especially on things that really matter.
Somewhere in all this rambling is an actual point. I'm not even sure I know what it is anymore. I guess what I'm basically trying to say is that a have a personality flaw where I feel like I always need to be right, and if I feel strongly enough about what I'm talking about (whether it be a clear-cut fact or a well thought out opinion), I will defend it. Therefore, in order to get along well with me, you have to be strong in your opinions and not afraid to argue with me to defend yourself.
In fact, when I was using eHarmony, I listed that as the most important characteristic for a girl to have. I tend to find myself attracted to girls who challenge what I say and aren't afraid to tell me when I'm being stupid (which is quite often). I'm one of the only people on this earth that doesn't want to be drowned in flattery. I don't want a girl that tells me how great I am. I want someone that can point out all my little flaws because then I know that she's really paying attention to me. Moreover, only through realizing my deficiencies will I be able to improve upon myself. Anyone who can make me realize something about myself that I don't already know is someone worthy of my admiration.
I have no idea how I ended up talking about what I desire in a woman. This post is a shining example of how stupid I can be.
Quite some time ago, I was talking to someone, and she commented that I liked to be right all the time. I responded, "doesn't everybody? Who wants to be wrong?"
She didn't even hesitate when she said, "But I feel like you just NEED to be right." I thought about it for a little bit, and realized that she was 100% correct. I have this overwhelming desire to be right about everything.
Now, that doesn't mean that I'm someone who thinks he's always right. There is a subtle but important difference between thinking you're always right and constantly wanting to be right. People who think they're always right don't listen or take into consideration what other people say. All they know is that they're right, everyone else is wrong, and they don't want to hear anything else.
I don't think I'm always right, and I certainly don't always think everyone else is wrong. However, I have this incredible desire to be right. Actually, it might be more appropriate to say that I have this need to know what is right. For example, if I'm talking to someone about a drug, and the other person thinks a drug works by one mechanism of action, while I think it has a different mechanism, I will stop whatever I'm doing to look up the answer and find out for sure whether I'm right or wrong.
I hate being wrong. In fact, I hate being wrong so much that I will pretty much never talk about a subject in which I'm not well versed. I will sit quietly for hours listening to other people talk until the conversation turns to a subject that I know well. Only then will I contribute.
However, if I do say something, and you happen to disagree with me, you better have a good argument or evidence to support your claim. I like to argue, and I will defend my position with every bit of logic and evidence I can come up with. Note, that I do not dismiss other people's thoughts or opinions, but I will make people defend them. If you make a comment or observation about something around me, I will question it, especially if it's something I don't agree with. If you choose not to defend your opinion or fail to come up with a logical or fact based argument in favor of it, I will dismiss it. However, if you push back at me as much as I push you to defend your opinion, I'll more than give you the proper credit. Moreover, I'll probably incorporate your thoughts into my own beliefs.
I don't really consider myself a strong person, but I believe I hold strong opinions about things. I also believe that most of the time, when I choose to say something, I'm usually right. Some people have told me that I can come across as arrogant and lacking modesty. A coworker once told me that it's like I know that I'm smarter than everyone else there, and I do nothing to make people think otherwise.
I can see how his would be annoying to people. However, I don't believe I'm arrogant at all. I'm also one of the most modest people you'll ever meet. I deflect flattery of any kind like it's a deadly disease. I shy away from praise. You can't say anything remotely nice about me without my face turning bright red in embarrassment. However, there's no such thing as modesty when it comes to being right or wrong. If someone says something that I know to be in error, I will correct it. I'm not going to just sit back and let people spread false information and uninformed opinions, especially on things that really matter.
Somewhere in all this rambling is an actual point. I'm not even sure I know what it is anymore. I guess what I'm basically trying to say is that a have a personality flaw where I feel like I always need to be right, and if I feel strongly enough about what I'm talking about (whether it be a clear-cut fact or a well thought out opinion), I will defend it. Therefore, in order to get along well with me, you have to be strong in your opinions and not afraid to argue with me to defend yourself.
In fact, when I was using eHarmony, I listed that as the most important characteristic for a girl to have. I tend to find myself attracted to girls who challenge what I say and aren't afraid to tell me when I'm being stupid (which is quite often). I'm one of the only people on this earth that doesn't want to be drowned in flattery. I don't want a girl that tells me how great I am. I want someone that can point out all my little flaws because then I know that she's really paying attention to me. Moreover, only through realizing my deficiencies will I be able to improve upon myself. Anyone who can make me realize something about myself that I don't already know is someone worthy of my admiration.
I have no idea how I ended up talking about what I desire in a woman. This post is a shining example of how stupid I can be.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Confirming What I Always Knew
Tip of the day...
If you're going to be late to work, it's probably best not to be seen online on Facebook 10 minutes before you're scheduled to be at work when you have an over 30 minute drive.
See... Your coworkers all pretty much knew you were full of shit all those times that "traffic" made you 20 minutes late. Now, I have proof.
Don't worry though. I won't say or do anything about it. Even though I hate how you're constantly late AND how you take a hundred mini breaks all day long AND how you'll stand around and do absolutely nothing but talk about your boring fucking life unless specifically told to do something, I won't voice my disapproval.
You see... I hate confrontation so much that I'd rather quietly fume about it all day at work until I can come home and vent about it on this blog than to address the issue and fix the problem. Basically, I'm a wuss.
But I already knew I was a wuss. Just like I already knew you were full of shit. This just gives me something more to complain about, and what's my life if I don't have something to complain about?
If you're going to be late to work, it's probably best not to be seen online on Facebook 10 minutes before you're scheduled to be at work when you have an over 30 minute drive.
See... Your coworkers all pretty much knew you were full of shit all those times that "traffic" made you 20 minutes late. Now, I have proof.
Don't worry though. I won't say or do anything about it. Even though I hate how you're constantly late AND how you take a hundred mini breaks all day long AND how you'll stand around and do absolutely nothing but talk about your boring fucking life unless specifically told to do something, I won't voice my disapproval.
You see... I hate confrontation so much that I'd rather quietly fume about it all day at work until I can come home and vent about it on this blog than to address the issue and fix the problem. Basically, I'm a wuss.
But I already knew I was a wuss. Just like I already knew you were full of shit. This just gives me something more to complain about, and what's my life if I don't have something to complain about?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Joining the Health Care Debate Once Again
Let me start off by listing some facts for you comparing the US health care system to France:
- The World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the U.S. 37th in the world in health care.
- France was ranked #1 (http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html)
- U.S. was ranked 24th in average life expectancy (70 years)
- France was ranked 3rd (73.1 years) (http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthy_life_table2.html)
- According to the CIA Fact Book, the U.S. has the 43rd lowest infant mortality rate (6.3 deaths/1,000 births)
- France has the 6th lowest (3.36 deaths/1,000 births) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate)
- American citizens were ranked 72nd in overall health.
- French citizens were ranked 4th. (http://www.photius.com/rankings/world_health_performance_ranks.html)
- As of 2002, the U.S. spent $5,267 per person per year on health care. $2,364 (or 45% of that money) came from government spending on mainly Medicaid and Medicare.
- As of 2002, France spent $2,736 per person per year on health care. $2,080 (or 76% of that money) came from the government. (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/15/opinion/15krugman.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin)
- In 2007, there were 45.7 million uninsured Americans. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States#Shared_costs_of_the_uninsured)
- In France, there are ZERO uninsured citizens.
Remember... Those are FACTS. They're just STATISTICS and the links to the sources and studies that provide those statistics. Unlike the people who oppose nationalized health care, I actually use STATISTICS to back up my claims. Notice the lack of anecdotal evidence that the opposition is so fond of using. Notice the lack of unsubstantiated opinions. I provide facts so that when I do give my opinions on the subject, you'll understand that I'm not talking out of my ass.
There are 45.7 MILLION uninsured people in this country. That's roughly 1/6th of our population. People who oppose nationalized health care seem to have no problem with this though. They have health insurance, so who gives a fuck about those 45 million people who don't? After all, if they were worth caring about, they'd have insurance, right?
It seems like people only care about ME ME ME in this country. "I have a job. I have health insurance. Why should my tax dollars go towards giving everyone health insurance?"
I guess their right because those freeloaders on Medicaid we all love to rant about must make up maybe 1 or 2% of those 45 million uninsured citizens. Jeez, we wouldn't want to help out all the other outstanding citizens of our nation because a very small fraction of that money might go to someone that's trying to abuse the system. You know what they say... One rotten apple spoils the bunch. Because we are so loath to support fat, lazy, smokers who might need health care, the other 99% of those without insurance will just have to die or go bankrupt if they happen to get sick.
Clearly, the way to go is privatized health care. I mean, why wouldn't you want to put your health in the hands of giant corporations whose sole priority is to make money? Corporations that actually set goals for the percentage of rejected claims they should have. Corporations who will deny you coverage or send your premiums through the roof if you have pre-existing conditions.
You know what the hilarious thing is? There's no other country that has a similar model of health care as us. You can't look at some wealthy European country and say, "they have privatized health care. Look how good they're doing." Pretty much every other country in the industrialized world has nationalized health care, and statistically speaking, in nearly every way you can measure, those other countries put our health care system to shame. Again... This is statistically speaking. Not anecdotally speaking.
I used France in the statistical comparison for two reasons. One, France has the best health care system in the world and 76% of it is funded by its government. Secondly, Americans love to bash on the French. Well, the French are kicking our ass in health care. It's not even close. They spend roughly half of what we do per capita, and they get far better results in just about every meaningful way you can measure health care results.
Obviously, looking at the numbers, the problem lies in our system. It needs to be radically overhauled to eliminate the waste. There's no reason we should be spending twice as much as everyone else and getting worse results. The process needs to be streamlined. That means we need to bulldoze the whole fucking system right to the ground and start all over again.
Only this time, maybe we can put our American egos to the side and ask the French for help on this one because they surely know how to make a health care system better than we do.
We won't do that though because it's un-American to approve of the French in any way. We'll just continue going on bitching about Canadian wait times (which pretty much every study shows are greatly exaggerated)and how it's "immoral" to have to pay taxes to support fat, smoking slobs who develop heart and lung problems. That's the American way, and it must be great... because American is great... Right?
- The World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the U.S. 37th in the world in health care.
- France was ranked #1 (http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html)
- U.S. was ranked 24th in average life expectancy (70 years)
- France was ranked 3rd (73.1 years) (http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthy_life_table2.html)
- According to the CIA Fact Book, the U.S. has the 43rd lowest infant mortality rate (6.3 deaths/1,000 births)
- France has the 6th lowest (3.36 deaths/1,000 births) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate)
- American citizens were ranked 72nd in overall health.
- French citizens were ranked 4th. (http://www.photius.com/rankings/world_health_performance_ranks.html)
- As of 2002, the U.S. spent $5,267 per person per year on health care. $2,364 (or 45% of that money) came from government spending on mainly Medicaid and Medicare.
- As of 2002, France spent $2,736 per person per year on health care. $2,080 (or 76% of that money) came from the government. (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/15/opinion/15krugman.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin)
- In 2007, there were 45.7 million uninsured Americans. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States#Shared_costs_of_the_uninsured)
- In France, there are ZERO uninsured citizens.
Remember... Those are FACTS. They're just STATISTICS and the links to the sources and studies that provide those statistics. Unlike the people who oppose nationalized health care, I actually use STATISTICS to back up my claims. Notice the lack of anecdotal evidence that the opposition is so fond of using. Notice the lack of unsubstantiated opinions. I provide facts so that when I do give my opinions on the subject, you'll understand that I'm not talking out of my ass.
There are 45.7 MILLION uninsured people in this country. That's roughly 1/6th of our population. People who oppose nationalized health care seem to have no problem with this though. They have health insurance, so who gives a fuck about those 45 million people who don't? After all, if they were worth caring about, they'd have insurance, right?
It seems like people only care about ME ME ME in this country. "I have a job. I have health insurance. Why should my tax dollars go towards giving everyone health insurance?"
I guess their right because those freeloaders on Medicaid we all love to rant about must make up maybe 1 or 2% of those 45 million uninsured citizens. Jeez, we wouldn't want to help out all the other outstanding citizens of our nation because a very small fraction of that money might go to someone that's trying to abuse the system. You know what they say... One rotten apple spoils the bunch. Because we are so loath to support fat, lazy, smokers who might need health care, the other 99% of those without insurance will just have to die or go bankrupt if they happen to get sick.
Clearly, the way to go is privatized health care. I mean, why wouldn't you want to put your health in the hands of giant corporations whose sole priority is to make money? Corporations that actually set goals for the percentage of rejected claims they should have. Corporations who will deny you coverage or send your premiums through the roof if you have pre-existing conditions.
You know what the hilarious thing is? There's no other country that has a similar model of health care as us. You can't look at some wealthy European country and say, "they have privatized health care. Look how good they're doing." Pretty much every other country in the industrialized world has nationalized health care, and statistically speaking, in nearly every way you can measure, those other countries put our health care system to shame. Again... This is statistically speaking. Not anecdotally speaking.
I used France in the statistical comparison for two reasons. One, France has the best health care system in the world and 76% of it is funded by its government. Secondly, Americans love to bash on the French. Well, the French are kicking our ass in health care. It's not even close. They spend roughly half of what we do per capita, and they get far better results in just about every meaningful way you can measure health care results.
Obviously, looking at the numbers, the problem lies in our system. It needs to be radically overhauled to eliminate the waste. There's no reason we should be spending twice as much as everyone else and getting worse results. The process needs to be streamlined. That means we need to bulldoze the whole fucking system right to the ground and start all over again.
Only this time, maybe we can put our American egos to the side and ask the French for help on this one because they surely know how to make a health care system better than we do.
We won't do that though because it's un-American to approve of the French in any way. We'll just continue going on bitching about Canadian wait times (which pretty much every study shows are greatly exaggerated)and how it's "immoral" to have to pay taxes to support fat, smoking slobs who develop heart and lung problems. That's the American way, and it must be great... because American is great... Right?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Best Way to Get Prescribers to Write Prescriptions Correctly
I'm dead serious when I suggest this. I also know that it will never happen. However, it will stop prescribers from making stupid mistakes on prescriptions pretty damn quickly.
There should be a law mandating that every single prescription must be written correctly in order for pharmacies to legally fill it. That means every time a doctor doesn't write a quantity, doesn't include directions, doesn't sign his name, doesn't write the patient's full name, writes illegibly or makes any other stupid mistake, pharmacists send the patient right back to the office to get a new prescription. After a dozen or so patients return to the office by lunch to get their scripts rewritten, the prescribers will quickly learn to write them correctly.
I'm so sick of calling to clarify every other prescription I get. The percentage is even higher on e-prescribed scripts. Really... How hard is it to write a fucking prescription correctly? More importantly, how can you just laugh it off when I call to clarify it?
Today, I called the office because I couldn't read whether the doctor wrote felodipine or amlodipine on a prescription. It looked a lot like felodipine, but the patient had amlodipine in the past, so we had to call to clarify it. For one, they couldn't tell me right away. They had to call me back... 6 hours later. Then, the woman on the phone said, "It's for amlodipine, but I have no idea what the rest of the prescription says."
That's great! It's a good thing I could read the rest of his chicken scratch because otherwise, I might have had to wait another day to get the directions clarified.
Then, there was the e-script that came through just like this:
Valtrex 500mg
Quantity: 426
Sig: 2 tabs (1,000mg) three times a day for 7 days
426 Valtrex, huh? So, I called to clarify the quantity just to make sure she really meant 42. Yes, the nurse meant 42 tablets. However, she suddenly realized she made another mistake, saying it was supposed to be for 500 mg, 1 tab 3 times a day for 7 days.
"So, the quantity should be 21 then, right?" I queried with the feeling that she just screwed up.
"No... It's for 42 tablets. She's taking it 3 times a day for 7 days," she answered.
"Three times daily for 7 days would be 21 tablets. Seven times 3 is 21," I informed her.
"Oh.... Well, that's weird because the doctor quite clearly wrote for 42," she responded confused.
I was done playing games with her. "Listen, the original prescription came through for 1,000 mg TID. That's the usual dose for treating shingles (which this patient had). I'm pretty sure the doctor meant her to take two 500 mg tablets or one 1,000 mg tablet TID."
"No... the doctor quite clearly wrote 500mg, 1 tablet TID," she insisted.
I told her that I would feel much more comfortable if she asked the doctor to clarify the dose and get back to me. She begrudgingly agreed.
Ten minutes later, the prescription was e-prescribed again to us with the original directions of 2 tablets TID. She never called to tell me if she got clarification on the script, so I had to call her back. It turned out I had been right. Had I not been insistent about getting the proper directions on the script, it would have been filled incorrectly and those incorrect directions would have been verified with a member of the office staff.
Isn't it comforting to know that often times the doctor's office staff is guessing on prescriptions when they call them in to us? I go through this same speil every freaking day. And are the patients happy that I took the time to make sure the prescription was correct? NO!! They're pissed at me for making them wait.
When they're not pissed, they think it's a big joke. "Oh.. Dr. Whathisname's writing is so terrible. HAHA."
You know... It isn't fucking funny. It wastes my time. It wastes the patient's time. Most importantly, it's DANGEROUS. People get killed because of poor handwriting. People get killed by incorrectly written prescriptions. Pharmacists are fucking awesome at correcting 99.9999% of the mistakes that prescribers make on scripts, but while we just might be the most accurate and obsessive compulsive perfectionists outside of NASA, we do occasionally miss these mistakes. Many of us are working long hours, under high prescriptions volumes, and with little help, so it's hard enough for us to make sure that the right pills go in the right patient's bottle. We don't need the added pressure that comes from poorly written prescriptions... especially when those errors are so freaking easy to eliminate if prescribers would just take 2 extra seconds.
Therefore, I call for pharmacists to revolt and refuse to fill prescriptions unless they are written correctly. We need to stop wasting our precious time bickering and bargaining with the office staff, and let them realize just how often they screw up. Let them waste their OWN time correcting their OWN mistakes.
There should be a law mandating that every single prescription must be written correctly in order for pharmacies to legally fill it. That means every time a doctor doesn't write a quantity, doesn't include directions, doesn't sign his name, doesn't write the patient's full name, writes illegibly or makes any other stupid mistake, pharmacists send the patient right back to the office to get a new prescription. After a dozen or so patients return to the office by lunch to get their scripts rewritten, the prescribers will quickly learn to write them correctly.
I'm so sick of calling to clarify every other prescription I get. The percentage is even higher on e-prescribed scripts. Really... How hard is it to write a fucking prescription correctly? More importantly, how can you just laugh it off when I call to clarify it?
Today, I called the office because I couldn't read whether the doctor wrote felodipine or amlodipine on a prescription. It looked a lot like felodipine, but the patient had amlodipine in the past, so we had to call to clarify it. For one, they couldn't tell me right away. They had to call me back... 6 hours later. Then, the woman on the phone said, "It's for amlodipine, but I have no idea what the rest of the prescription says."
That's great! It's a good thing I could read the rest of his chicken scratch because otherwise, I might have had to wait another day to get the directions clarified.
Then, there was the e-script that came through just like this:
Valtrex 500mg
Quantity: 426
Sig: 2 tabs (1,000mg) three times a day for 7 days
426 Valtrex, huh? So, I called to clarify the quantity just to make sure she really meant 42. Yes, the nurse meant 42 tablets. However, she suddenly realized she made another mistake, saying it was supposed to be for 500 mg, 1 tab 3 times a day for 7 days.
"So, the quantity should be 21 then, right?" I queried with the feeling that she just screwed up.
"No... It's for 42 tablets. She's taking it 3 times a day for 7 days," she answered.
"Three times daily for 7 days would be 21 tablets. Seven times 3 is 21," I informed her.
"Oh.... Well, that's weird because the doctor quite clearly wrote for 42," she responded confused.
I was done playing games with her. "Listen, the original prescription came through for 1,000 mg TID. That's the usual dose for treating shingles (which this patient had). I'm pretty sure the doctor meant her to take two 500 mg tablets or one 1,000 mg tablet TID."
"No... the doctor quite clearly wrote 500mg, 1 tablet TID," she insisted.
I told her that I would feel much more comfortable if she asked the doctor to clarify the dose and get back to me. She begrudgingly agreed.
Ten minutes later, the prescription was e-prescribed again to us with the original directions of 2 tablets TID. She never called to tell me if she got clarification on the script, so I had to call her back. It turned out I had been right. Had I not been insistent about getting the proper directions on the script, it would have been filled incorrectly and those incorrect directions would have been verified with a member of the office staff.
Isn't it comforting to know that often times the doctor's office staff is guessing on prescriptions when they call them in to us? I go through this same speil every freaking day. And are the patients happy that I took the time to make sure the prescription was correct? NO!! They're pissed at me for making them wait.
When they're not pissed, they think it's a big joke. "Oh.. Dr. Whathisname's writing is so terrible. HAHA."
You know... It isn't fucking funny. It wastes my time. It wastes the patient's time. Most importantly, it's DANGEROUS. People get killed because of poor handwriting. People get killed by incorrectly written prescriptions. Pharmacists are fucking awesome at correcting 99.9999% of the mistakes that prescribers make on scripts, but while we just might be the most accurate and obsessive compulsive perfectionists outside of NASA, we do occasionally miss these mistakes. Many of us are working long hours, under high prescriptions volumes, and with little help, so it's hard enough for us to make sure that the right pills go in the right patient's bottle. We don't need the added pressure that comes from poorly written prescriptions... especially when those errors are so freaking easy to eliminate if prescribers would just take 2 extra seconds.
Therefore, I call for pharmacists to revolt and refuse to fill prescriptions unless they are written correctly. We need to stop wasting our precious time bickering and bargaining with the office staff, and let them realize just how often they screw up. Let them waste their OWN time correcting their OWN mistakes.
Friday, June 19, 2009
An Ability I Wish I Had
The renovations on my condo are well under way. The contractor and his workers are in there ripping stuff out and preparing to install all the new things I bought. Watching these guys rip stuff out and make repairs makes me wish I knew how to do stuff like that.
I can't build anything. I have absolutely no mechanical talents. These guys can do everything. They know how to do electical work, plumbing, carpentry, tile, everything. This man could literally build a house from the ground up if he wanted to. I can't do anything even close to as great as that.
I spent a little while just shooting the breeze with these guys today, and it's crazy how intellectually superior I am to them though. I mean, they have a hard time understanding even the simplest concepts. I have to make sure to use small, common words around them or else they won't understand me. However, they can look at my water heater for 2 seconds and tell me everything about how the pipes run through the house.
My contractor and his workers are all nice guys, but they all look at me like I'm a step above them in society. It actually makes me a little uncomfortable. For example, one of my neighbors is a girl that went to school with me. While I was outside talking to the workers, she came out of her condo to get into her car. She saw me, waved to me, and I waved back. After she drove off, the guys were talking about how "hot" she was, and how I'm the only one of all of them that has a chance with her. One guy even commented about how he should be a "doctor" like me so he could get girls like that. (I quickly corrected him saying I was a pharmacist. I don't like being called a doctor even if my abitrary doctor of pharmacy degree technically makes me one). The ironic thing, of course, is that I'm fairly certain that he gets way more woman than I do. Any amount is more than zero.
Since then, I've been thinking about how I often forget that not everyone can afford the things that I can. I bought a condo I didn't particularly like, so I hired a contractor, had him gut the place, and after they're done, I'll have basically a brand new place. A lot of people have trouble even affording a condo like this place originally was. My job enables me to have nicer things than most others. Why is that though? Why do I make more money doing what I do than the contractor and his workers do?
They can't do my job. Intellectually, it's way over their heads... and I don't even think my job is all that intellectually challenging. They wouldn't be able to handle the classes I had to take to get my degree. It's beyond their mental capacity. On the other hand, I could never do what they do. I just don't have the ability to build things. I've tried before. I just don't have that natural talent.
If neither one of us can do the other's job, then why do I get paid so much more than they do? What makes my job worth more money than their's? If anything, I would think that being able to build a house is a far more useful ability than knowing how to dispense drugs. Yet the world seems to think that because I went to school for so long, I deserve to be paid more. Are there really fewer people who could be pharmacists than can build a house from the ground up?
See... While going through these renovations, I think of how much easier my life would be if I could do this stuff my self. It would save me tens of thousands of dollars. In addition, it would be constantly useful. Knowing how to rebuild and repair things never loses its value. However, my pharmacy knowledge becomes completely useless to me the second I walk out of the pharmacy.
I guess that was my random thought for the day.
I can't build anything. I have absolutely no mechanical talents. These guys can do everything. They know how to do electical work, plumbing, carpentry, tile, everything. This man could literally build a house from the ground up if he wanted to. I can't do anything even close to as great as that.
I spent a little while just shooting the breeze with these guys today, and it's crazy how intellectually superior I am to them though. I mean, they have a hard time understanding even the simplest concepts. I have to make sure to use small, common words around them or else they won't understand me. However, they can look at my water heater for 2 seconds and tell me everything about how the pipes run through the house.
My contractor and his workers are all nice guys, but they all look at me like I'm a step above them in society. It actually makes me a little uncomfortable. For example, one of my neighbors is a girl that went to school with me. While I was outside talking to the workers, she came out of her condo to get into her car. She saw me, waved to me, and I waved back. After she drove off, the guys were talking about how "hot" she was, and how I'm the only one of all of them that has a chance with her. One guy even commented about how he should be a "doctor" like me so he could get girls like that. (I quickly corrected him saying I was a pharmacist. I don't like being called a doctor even if my abitrary doctor of pharmacy degree technically makes me one). The ironic thing, of course, is that I'm fairly certain that he gets way more woman than I do. Any amount is more than zero.
Since then, I've been thinking about how I often forget that not everyone can afford the things that I can. I bought a condo I didn't particularly like, so I hired a contractor, had him gut the place, and after they're done, I'll have basically a brand new place. A lot of people have trouble even affording a condo like this place originally was. My job enables me to have nicer things than most others. Why is that though? Why do I make more money doing what I do than the contractor and his workers do?
They can't do my job. Intellectually, it's way over their heads... and I don't even think my job is all that intellectually challenging. They wouldn't be able to handle the classes I had to take to get my degree. It's beyond their mental capacity. On the other hand, I could never do what they do. I just don't have the ability to build things. I've tried before. I just don't have that natural talent.
If neither one of us can do the other's job, then why do I get paid so much more than they do? What makes my job worth more money than their's? If anything, I would think that being able to build a house is a far more useful ability than knowing how to dispense drugs. Yet the world seems to think that because I went to school for so long, I deserve to be paid more. Are there really fewer people who could be pharmacists than can build a house from the ground up?
See... While going through these renovations, I think of how much easier my life would be if I could do this stuff my self. It would save me tens of thousands of dollars. In addition, it would be constantly useful. Knowing how to rebuild and repair things never loses its value. However, my pharmacy knowledge becomes completely useless to me the second I walk out of the pharmacy.
I guess that was my random thought for the day.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Silence
The silence gets to me sometimes. As I sit here typing this post, the only sounds I can hear are the soft clicks of my fingers punching the keys. It's been this way for hours now. No phone calls. No text messages. I can't even hear cars outside. It's just me in this little apartment. The rest of the world may as well not exist.
It's not so much the loneliness that bothers me but the sense of isolation. It's a feeling that I'm completely inconsequential. Even though I can't hear it, I know people are going about their lives all around me, and I have absolutely no effect on them. I don't matter. If I happened to die in this apartment, no one would know about it for days. No one would call looking for me. I'm not expected to be anywhere. I have no plans with anyone. It's just me in my little apartment, which might as well be my own universe.
No matter what anyone says or tries to convince themselves, you cannot be happy living like I do. That's not to say that my life is miserable. It's just not happy. How could it be? "Happiness is only real when shared." Without friends or loved ones in my life, everything I have and everything I do is ultimately meaningless. I have no one to reflect with. I have no one to be happy with me. No one to be excited for me. No one to be proud of me...
The question then becomes, if this life doesn't make me happy, then why don't I correct the situation? Why don't I make more of an effort to be with friends and family? Why don't I try to meet new people? Why don't I try to date? There's a million things I could be doing to remedy my situation, but I don't do any of them. If I refuse to do anything about it, then I really shouldn't complain about it, right?
Here's the reason I choose to live this way: I'm so acutely aware of my personal faults that I don't want to subject anyone to me. I tend to hurt the people I care about. The only conversations I have with my parents involve yelling and arguing. I don't even talk to my brother. I haven't seen my other relatives in years, even though, as an adult, I can hop in my car and see them whenever I want.
Even with my ex (who I haven't written about in a long time)... I can't even count how many times I made her cry in our nearly 6 year relationship, and I loved her more than I thought I could ever love someone. It was stupid stuff. It's always stupid stuff with me. I get frustrated over something dumb (like not being able to find a parking space), and I lash out. Afterwards, I always tell myself I'll never do it again. I get mad at myself and try to change, but I can't. I get easily frustrated, and when I get frustrated, I can't control my emotions.
It happens to me playing basketball too. I miss a few jump shots, and I start muttering to myself. Miss a few more, then the frustration really sets in. At that point, if I miss another one, I usually let out a FUCK!!!!! at the top of my lungs, so loud that everyone within 100 yards stops what they're doing and looks at me. It embarrasses me because I'm not at all that kind of person normally. I'm really one of the most soft spoken, well-mannered people you'll ever meet in most circumstances. However, if I get frustrated enough, I lose control. I hate that part of myself. I tell myself that I need to be calm, cool, and collected like my favorite player Ray Allen, but I can never do it.
My embarrassment over my frustrated outbursts causes me to be overly controlling of my emotions in every other aspect of my life. If you talk to me when I'm not frustrated, I come across as the most bland person in the world. I have no passions. Nothing excites me. Nothing pleases me. I'm just blah all the time. I'm afraid to let my emotions go unchecked because I don't know how I will react.
I just can't be like everyone else. My brain doesn't work that way. I accept that, and I make what I think is the best out of my situation. However, it doesn't stop me from desiring more. Think of it like a double leg amputee. Yes, the amputee can make the best of his life given his physical limitations. However, he'll always wish he could walk. Similarly, I know I can't handle any kind of personal relationship (friends, family, significant other) without inflicting mental anguish on the other person, and I've found ways to not be miserable giving my situation. However, I'll always desire to be like everyone else.
It's taken me about an hour to write this post. In that time, I didn't get an email. Didn't get a text message. Didn't get a phone call. No one knocked at my door. My existence has gone completely unacknowledged all day. Days like these, which happen far too often, cause me to think about stuff like this.
*** As a blog note... I've kind of given up on pharmacy blogging. I don't have much left to say about my job. I feel like I've written every thing worth writing about already, so unless some new and different ideas pop into my head, you'll probably be seeing much more of these kind of posts than anything to do with pharmacy. I apologize to those that actually cared about what I had to say regarding pharmacy. I figure I'm too pessimistic to be a voice for the profession anyway. Pharmacy is certain to go nowhere if people like me are writing about it.
It's not so much the loneliness that bothers me but the sense of isolation. It's a feeling that I'm completely inconsequential. Even though I can't hear it, I know people are going about their lives all around me, and I have absolutely no effect on them. I don't matter. If I happened to die in this apartment, no one would know about it for days. No one would call looking for me. I'm not expected to be anywhere. I have no plans with anyone. It's just me in my little apartment, which might as well be my own universe.
No matter what anyone says or tries to convince themselves, you cannot be happy living like I do. That's not to say that my life is miserable. It's just not happy. How could it be? "Happiness is only real when shared." Without friends or loved ones in my life, everything I have and everything I do is ultimately meaningless. I have no one to reflect with. I have no one to be happy with me. No one to be excited for me. No one to be proud of me...
The question then becomes, if this life doesn't make me happy, then why don't I correct the situation? Why don't I make more of an effort to be with friends and family? Why don't I try to meet new people? Why don't I try to date? There's a million things I could be doing to remedy my situation, but I don't do any of them. If I refuse to do anything about it, then I really shouldn't complain about it, right?
Here's the reason I choose to live this way: I'm so acutely aware of my personal faults that I don't want to subject anyone to me. I tend to hurt the people I care about. The only conversations I have with my parents involve yelling and arguing. I don't even talk to my brother. I haven't seen my other relatives in years, even though, as an adult, I can hop in my car and see them whenever I want.
Even with my ex (who I haven't written about in a long time)... I can't even count how many times I made her cry in our nearly 6 year relationship, and I loved her more than I thought I could ever love someone. It was stupid stuff. It's always stupid stuff with me. I get frustrated over something dumb (like not being able to find a parking space), and I lash out. Afterwards, I always tell myself I'll never do it again. I get mad at myself and try to change, but I can't. I get easily frustrated, and when I get frustrated, I can't control my emotions.
It happens to me playing basketball too. I miss a few jump shots, and I start muttering to myself. Miss a few more, then the frustration really sets in. At that point, if I miss another one, I usually let out a FUCK!!!!! at the top of my lungs, so loud that everyone within 100 yards stops what they're doing and looks at me. It embarrasses me because I'm not at all that kind of person normally. I'm really one of the most soft spoken, well-mannered people you'll ever meet in most circumstances. However, if I get frustrated enough, I lose control. I hate that part of myself. I tell myself that I need to be calm, cool, and collected like my favorite player Ray Allen, but I can never do it.
My embarrassment over my frustrated outbursts causes me to be overly controlling of my emotions in every other aspect of my life. If you talk to me when I'm not frustrated, I come across as the most bland person in the world. I have no passions. Nothing excites me. Nothing pleases me. I'm just blah all the time. I'm afraid to let my emotions go unchecked because I don't know how I will react.
I just can't be like everyone else. My brain doesn't work that way. I accept that, and I make what I think is the best out of my situation. However, it doesn't stop me from desiring more. Think of it like a double leg amputee. Yes, the amputee can make the best of his life given his physical limitations. However, he'll always wish he could walk. Similarly, I know I can't handle any kind of personal relationship (friends, family, significant other) without inflicting mental anguish on the other person, and I've found ways to not be miserable giving my situation. However, I'll always desire to be like everyone else.
It's taken me about an hour to write this post. In that time, I didn't get an email. Didn't get a text message. Didn't get a phone call. No one knocked at my door. My existence has gone completely unacknowledged all day. Days like these, which happen far too often, cause me to think about stuff like this.
*** As a blog note... I've kind of given up on pharmacy blogging. I don't have much left to say about my job. I feel like I've written every thing worth writing about already, so unless some new and different ideas pop into my head, you'll probably be seeing much more of these kind of posts than anything to do with pharmacy. I apologize to those that actually cared about what I had to say regarding pharmacy. I figure I'm too pessimistic to be a voice for the profession anyway. Pharmacy is certain to go nowhere if people like me are writing about it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
