Pharmacy counseling. What the hell is it?

August 14, 2023

At last I’m back in the groove, telling my all to my blog post readers.  The subject I want to broach is “Pharmacy Counseling.”

Do you want the pharmacist to counsel you?  hmmmmm?

Neither do I.  

End of subject?  

Not quite.  

Actually, I suspect you did want the pharmacist to counsel you.  

You’ve got a prescription for some sort of new medication.

Of course you want to learn how it will affect you, IF you don’t already know.

Perhaps you’ll tell the pharmacist you already know.  Great!  Goodbye!  It’s not a knowledge contest!

On the other hand, maybe the medicine is new for you?

Your doctor probably told you a bunch of stuff when she gave you the instructions to visit the pharmacy to pick up the medicine.

Here’s my distilled wisdom from my long career as a pharmacist.  

Try to put yourself into my huge shoes.  They are size 15.  I have a grandson who would likely tell me he couldn’t possibly squeeze his feet into them.

A patient comes to me with a prescription.  I count out, pour out, measure out the appropriate medicine, put it in a bottle, affix an appropriate label with the prescribed instructions.  I let you know it’s ready.  I’m standing there, half-smiling.

Now what?

I could, you know, simply hand you the medicine in a bag, staple it shut.  Ask you something that would hurry you out the door.  What would I ask you to hurry you out the door?  I would ask you if you have any questions?  I know the answer to that one.  It is always, “no.”

As a pharmacist, if I’m at my wits end, exhausted, I want to get rid of a patient!  I ask them, “Do you have any questions?”  (no)

Then I say, “good bye!

What I mean is, “goodbye, get out!  Go away!  Now!”

However,

If I were a professional person, who cared about you, I would counsel you.  Of course I would.  I am a professional person, and I DO care about you!

Here’s what I would most likely say:  “Hello!  Thanks for letting me fill your prescription!  What did the doctor say she was going to give you?”

You can say whatever you want at this point.  Maybe the doctor gave you some medicine for your back pain?  You might say back to me:  “She said she was going to give me a muscle relaxer.”  I don’t know, “a blood pressure pill.”  Whatever.

I’d then say, “Right!  This is a … muscle relaxer (or whatever).  When did she say to take it?”

…and so on.  The kind of counseling I learned to employ,  is to verify that the patient knows what the medicine is for, how and when to take it, and what to expect from the medicine.  Depending upon the type of medicine, other questions would be appropriate.

I learned the “verification technique” while working as a pharmacist with the US Public Health Service.

It’s been years since I was an actual pharmacist.  Do I (ME?) want to be counseled?  Yes, of course.

It’s all about a highly trained professional adding information to the patient’s knowledge base.

At least it was for me.