Controlled Medications

The pharmacy received a package of medications on Wednesday, and these medications were the pharmacy’s stock bottles. I placed the San Jose Clinic labels on these medications and then placed them in their proper locations on the shelves. The package also contained controlled medications, which are medications that have a high potential for abuse and can be habit forming and thus, are kept in a locked safe separate from the rest of the medications. When I began filling prescriptions for the day, one of the prescriptions I had to fill was a controlled medication. The protocol for filling controlled medications is that they must be counted twice and then be checked by the pharmacist. I therefore, counted the pills and made sure it was the correct amount that I was placing in the bottle. This made me realize that such stringent protocols are in place because people actually do abuse medications and that is why these controlled substances are placed in a locked safe and must be counted several times before they are dispensed to the patients. Medications are thus, only beneficial when they are taken properly; they must be the correct amount and the correct dosage. Therefore, as the pharmacy staff, we must follow all the protocols laid out to ensure that patients do not face any health risks.

Patient Encounter

I had my first patient encounter at the San Jose pharmacy this past Wednesday when a patient came to pick up her refills. I verified the patient’s ID with the ID that was on the prescription and recorded the number of refills she was picking up along with the prescription numbers. This was to ensure that the right patient was receiving the correct medications that were prescribed to them. The prescription numbers were recorded on the pick-up log sheet in order to prevent any problems in the future in case the patient thinks they did not pick up their medications. When the patient, was signing for her prescriptions, she informed us that she wanted to pick up her refill for her cholesterol medications since she was completely out. The pharmacy, however, did not have the particular medication that the patient usually takes in stock. Since this medication was a maintenance drug and it was important that the patient take it on a daily basis, the pharmacist thus, substituted another cholesterol medication and gave that to the patient instead. This made me realize how important particular medications are to patients because without these medications, the patients can potentially face serious health risks.

The missing package insert

This past Wednesday, the pharmacy received a package of medications that was missing the insert so the pharmacy did not know who the medications belonged to. Therefore, the pharmacist asked me to contact Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company, which sent the medications as part of the prescription assistance program. I called the company and once I gave them the package’s tracking number, I was given the list of patients so I wrote down the names and what medications belonged to each patient. After I received the names, the pharmacy was able to process the medications in their system. This made me realize that there is a lot that needs to be taken care of before any prescription is actually dispensed to the patients at the clinic. Medications are ordered through the prescription assistance program, and then the medications are sent to the clinic where they are processed into the computer system before they can be given to the patients. All of this is possible only when everyone is doing their jobs, and this made me realize that I also serve an important role as a volunteer.