Pharmacy Roulette - You bet your life

[Pharmacist.steve]

Here is something that you may be interested in ... Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...
It is a repository of all the news articles regarding how healthcare is harming patients.
It is estimated that 100,000 die annually from medical mistakes and 1.5 million are harmed by medication errors...
Big corporation are routinely paying fines for wrong doings.. and they just keep doing it...

[Mark N]

Steve thanks for the link and for keeping us up to date on the latest info.

[Diandra]

Hi Steve, those stats are really horrifying. When I think of all the folks in my parents generation(80-90yr old) who blindly take whatever script their doctors give them and never make sure what the doc wrote is what the pharmacy gave them. If they do not have help with managing those meds, it can be catastrophic as those numbers may indicate.

Do you have any advice for us as consumers, aside from just keeping an eagle eye on our docs, pharmacists and hospitals? Should we use that govt complaint link you gave the other day every time we have an error occur?
Thanks, Diandra

[tortoisegirl]

Oh yeah I believe it. Its happened to me with meds...I've been given stuff that I shouldn't take with what I already take, not been informed on potentially dangerous effects (such as a medication interfering with birth control pills), told to start at a dose which was inappropriate (should have been tapered up), told it was ok to stop a med cold turkey when it wasn't, given the wrong dose of a med, given the wrong form of a med, etc. You really have to be your own advocate, and not everyone is capable of doing that (such as seniors). I always triple check my doctor and pharmacist on the med/dose/side effects. Best wishes.

[Pharmacist.steve]

The chains are pushing their pharmacy staff harder and harder... the boards of pharmacy are a joke... 75% have chain exec sitting on them... conflict of interest? Most of the chains threaten their pharmacy staff if they complaint about working conditions... If you have refills.. that have authorized refills on them... call them about 2 hrs before the Rx dept closes... normally a slower period... less distractions and interruptions... that help contribute to mistakes. Pharmacists are typically working with some questionably trained techs and the most of the states allow 4 to 6 techs for every Pharmacists.. some states - like Kentucky - the ratio is UNLIMITED... and there is no training requirements... just send the state $25 every year.. really it is all about tracking those who will divert drugs... so they can't get hired in a pharmacy after convicted. There is no easy answer.. just be cautious ... Pharmacists are all humans... and most Rx depts are best described as organized chaos at times...