Hello, and welcome to my blog here at helpfulrxconsulting.com.
I am a registered pharmacist. I have been practicing in retail and long term care for more than 20 years. It has become clear to me that when some people walk into a pharmacy, they expect fast service. They are sometimes not feeling well, in a lot of pain, in a hurry, or all of the above. Furthermore, they want as much drug and good service as possible and pay as little as possible.
However, something else I have noticed is that when other people walk in to the pharmacy, sometimes the first thing they want to do is talk. They are frustrated, angry, or perhaps frightened about a health condition they are dealing with. They may have unanswered questions or challenges with insurance and other financial issues. Of course, the patients who want to talk still expect something from me, whether it is good advice, fast helpful service, a completed prescription, a good price, or a combination of the above. I believe that if a patient is convinced that the pharmacist is listening to them, they are more likely to accept the details of the overall pharmacy experience that may not be quite to their liking.
Furthermore, I have also watched the pharmacy world change. The forces in play have come together to make it more difficult to give the patients what they want: A completed prescription, done correctly, at (or below) the price they expect, and with all of their questions answered. What is a pharmacist to do? Either cut corners and run the risk of committing errors, or not take the time to get a decent price for the patient, or not take the time to listen to the patient if they need to talk.
I believe that there is a big enough demand for pharmacist-patient discussions that it may suffice as a business in itself. Obviously, the patient still has to acquire their medication from a licensed pharmacy. However, patients still have questions that may not be addressed by what’s printed on the medication label, or even by the leaflet that the pharmacist gives to the patient when they pay for the medication. It is more difficult than it used to be for pharmacists at stores to find the time to talk with patients about their concerns.
There also may be patients who get prescriptions through mail order. Suppose they have questions about the bottle of pills that is in the mailbox. Who can they talk to? Is there someone standing next to the mailbox ready to answer their drug questions? Probably not.
Here is another observation of mine: People who know me and know that I am a pharmacist have often come to me with questions about their medication therapy when I am off duty. I am pleased to help them and give them answers to their questions. I care about people and want to do something to make their lives better. (That is, improve their quality of life.) These discussions are golden opportunities to do so. With that idea in mind, I started looking into educating patients about their drug therapy, but without the risk of interference from the time-consuming, interruption-prone prescription-filling process.
As of this writing, the cornerstone of this website will be blogs such as this one. One goal of this blog is to provide answers to common questions posed by patients about prescription drugs, non-prescriptions drugs, herbal products, and otherwise healthy living. In each blog entry I will try to explain things as clearly as possible, in order to reduce ambiguity and confusion.
Something else worth discussing is what this website is NOT.
- It is NOT an arena where I can diagnose any illness, disease, or medical condition. Only a licensed prescriber (doctor, dentist, etc) has legal authority to do so.
- It is NOT an arena where I can prescribe. Again, only a prescriber has legal authority there.
- It is NOT an arena where I can dispense medication. Although I am a licensed pharmacist, the design of this website makes it such it is not the right place for this.
- It is NOT a place to come to if you are having a life-threatening emergency. I cannot stress this enough: If you are having a life-threatening emergency, either call 911 immediately or go to the nearest emergency room.
However, if you have general questions about your medications, I hope you will take advantage of what this website has to offer. I am planning on posting blogs once a week. I encourage you to subscribe to the helpfulrxconsulting mailing list (which I am setting up soon), so you can get notifications via e-mail about new blog entries. I said earlier that I cannot diagnose or prescribe, but I can still address some questions related to prescription medication, and I can also recommend non-prescription products and/or non-drug products that might improve your situation. It just very well may make this part of your life a little easier, may improve your health, or even put less of a pinch on your wallet.
I would certainly like to hear from you. Please leave comments and questions.
Thanks for stopping in.
– The Helpful Pharmacist