Question about eRXs.

I'm NOT trying to bad-mouth nurses... but I had a rotation in pharmacy school where I worked directly with the doctors at a clinic for low-income patients. I shadowed the doctors for 4 weeks. One thing I'd see time and time again.... the Dr. would hand a written script to a nurse, and say "please send this to <x> pharmacy right away." This is after they'd tell the patient "it will be ready when you get there."

I think the doctors assumed that "right away" meant "NOW" to the nurses. This was not the case. The nurses would generally take the script and put it on top of a stack of papers that was an inch thick.

One time, I literally heard a nurse, after being handed a stat RX by a doctor, say "I don't have time for this shit," at which point she just tossed the Rx onto a horrific paper pile on her desk.

It's a side effect of people completely not caring about other players in the health-care team. I've found that nurses generally hate pharmacy workers and couldn't care less about what we go through. And of course, over-worked, stressed out nurses.

<disclaimer: this clinic was in the "ghetto" and was not staffed by the best nurses. I'm not saying nurses are the problem in most cases.>

/r/TalesFromThePharmacy Thread Parent