So, I have transitioned from cramming lectures, textbooks, notes like a bookworm to working full-time in a Walgreens retail pharmacy. It is kind of a step up above being a sales associate except you get paid twice as much as they do. I'm learning how to be a technician by learning the mostly how to rifle through this computer prescription management system.
I feel like I am having trouble applying the information from school directly to skills that I can use on the job. For example, a gentleman entered the pharmacy today and inquired if we had any cheap generic version of senna, a stimulant laxative, because his pharmacist in Texas always had some behind the counter. Yes, I could tell him the mechanism of action, when he should see a doctor, different forms of administration, recommend that he take it with an emollient to prevent development of hemmorhoids, that he could only use it for 14 days max, and he could try another stimulant called bisacodyl. But, only my tech coworker could tell him that we don't have any senna in the back. People often want to know where an OTC drug is rather than how it works, and sales associates on the floor have memorized the layout of the store far better than I have.
Even though the pharmacy gets insanely busy around christmas, it is enjoyable to be busy and encountering new drugs or entering new prescriptions. Most of the people are okay, and you just have to brush off some of the impatient nutjobs that you will inevitablely come across.
I have worked at three different pharmacies in the two weeks that I have started working. My managers are all really nice. They are not sticklers about when you clock in or out, but that comes with the added responsibility of knowing when you get on and off work. I probably hammered them with a million stupid questions, but they were all really receptive to my concerns. For example, I was clueless when a patient asked for a generic 1.0 mL medium insulin syringes. I now know to look for the walgreens 1.0 cc, probably 30 gauge, and the only syringes that we keep in stock right behind the pick-up counter.
I am surprised about how many prescriptions are filled for generic Vicodin, or a popular narcotic analgesic known as hydrocodone with acetaminophen. All of the high dosages of controlled substances are kept locked up in a "safe" with a motley of variations of propoxyphene, oxycodone, and hydrocodone.
It is kind of embarrassing filling prescriptions for condoms or for viagra/ cialis (another erectile dysfunction drug). I can't believe they would shell out 30 bucks for like 2 viagra tablets. I guess it can be worth it...
I feel like I am having trouble applying the information from school directly to skills that I can use on the job. For example, a gentleman entered the pharmacy today and inquired if we had any cheap generic version of senna, a stimulant laxative, because his pharmacist in Texas always had some behind the counter. Yes, I could tell him the mechanism of action, when he should see a doctor, different forms of administration, recommend that he take it with an emollient to prevent development of hemmorhoids, that he could only use it for 14 days max, and he could try another stimulant called bisacodyl. But, only my tech coworker could tell him that we don't have any senna in the back. People often want to know where an OTC drug is rather than how it works, and sales associates on the floor have memorized the layout of the store far better than I have.
Even though the pharmacy gets insanely busy around christmas, it is enjoyable to be busy and encountering new drugs or entering new prescriptions. Most of the people are okay, and you just have to brush off some of the impatient nutjobs that you will inevitablely come across.
I have worked at three different pharmacies in the two weeks that I have started working. My managers are all really nice. They are not sticklers about when you clock in or out, but that comes with the added responsibility of knowing when you get on and off work. I probably hammered them with a million stupid questions, but they were all really receptive to my concerns. For example, I was clueless when a patient asked for a generic 1.0 mL medium insulin syringes. I now know to look for the walgreens 1.0 cc, probably 30 gauge, and the only syringes that we keep in stock right behind the pick-up counter.
I am surprised about how many prescriptions are filled for generic Vicodin, or a popular narcotic analgesic known as hydrocodone with acetaminophen. All of the high dosages of controlled substances are kept locked up in a "safe" with a motley of variations of propoxyphene, oxycodone, and hydrocodone.
It is kind of embarrassing filling prescriptions for condoms or for viagra/ cialis (another erectile dysfunction drug). I can't believe they would shell out 30 bucks for like 2 viagra tablets. I guess it can be worth it...
Some drugs that may become the next blockbusters, if any of you are looking to buy stocks in pharmaceutical companies, are Lamictal and Risperidal. Lamictal is a newly FDA approved prescription anti-convulsant to prevent siezures in children and bipolar disorder. Risperidal is the only antipsychotic recently FDA approved to autism in kids.
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