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.