ERx's. Brilliant idea. Horrible execution. I got one with these directions.
"Take one tablet daily. 1/2 tab qd."
Time to make a phone call. After giving the "nurse" the patient's information and explaining that I have a question about the directions on the eRx that was just sent over to us, she locates the order in her system and proceeds to tell me, in quite the authoritative tone, "It says, 'take one tablet daily, one-half tab qd.'"
Oh ok, that clarifies things. Thank God this unparalleled genius answered the phone because I FORGOT HOW TO FUCKING READ!
Me: "Yes, that is what it says. So which is it?"
"Nurse": "Take one tablet daily, one-half tablet daily."
**crickets chirping**
"N": "Well, I think the doctor means one-half tablet daily."
M: "Ok, do we think? Or do we know?"
"N": "I'm pretty sure that's what he means."
M: "I don't want to guess, but if you are ok with guessing, what's your first and last name?"
**pause**
"N": "What'syournumberI'llcallyouback."
(For the record, I would have insisted she check with the prescriber before I filled the Rx.)
I hate this kind of thing sooooooo much for the complete waste of time it is. And the worst part is calling the doctor's office (if you can actually get through) and, like you say, they have no idea what the problem is. This is one situation where I feel completely justified in being kind of a bitch.
ReplyDeleteYou guys must have to deal with this all the time. I don't know why they don't teach doctors to write coherent prescriptions. Even in the hospital their orders are sometimes inscrutable, but for some reason they completely abandon all attempts at making sense when writing scripts.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that our inpatient pharmacists have access to the physician paging system. As a nurse I loathe getting stuck in the middle of these things.
E-rx' are a waste of time in our system b/c certain doctors keep squeezing in MD or DO into the name field after their last name. I have to delete this all the time to get the computer to match up who it is. I want to tell everyone - DUDE! We know you are a DOCTOR if you are escribing! Argh
ReplyDelete