Lynn
Not impressed with staff's level of clinical skill
My physician sent an order to this company. When I spoke with someone about the order, the first data that chose to collect was mailing address and credit card info. Then the person I spoke to asked me list all my allegies! I was told that was necessary, because if there were any allergies to the medication, they wouldn't fill the order. (Wonder how difficult it could be to get a refund when THAT happens!) So, they offered to allow me to speak with their pharmacist. He didn't seem familiar enough with the drug, so I didn't bother to ask him about its chemical structure, but instead asked him if he could tell me about contraindications for the drug. He immediately copped out by saying that would be 'giving medical advice." It's NOT! Most drugs come with this information. "Drug inserts (package inserts) provide essential FDA-approved safety information, including contraindications—specific situations, diseases, or patient demographics where a drug should not be used due to high risk of harm." I pressed the issue and said that "No," it was not 'giving medical advice' but giving basic details on a drug that a pharmacist should know about! My frustration peaked and I raised my voice (which I do regret), but before I could apologize, he hung up on me! Since when are pharmacists no longer permitted to read a product insert to a patient??? He also didn't seem to appreciate my pointing out that they shouldn't only be interested in knowing drug allergies, but rather about ALL the drugs that I have been prescribed, including those that could potentially pose a risk for interaction. Also, some compounding or limited distribution drug pharmacies have systems where physicians must send them the patient's medical and prescription history BEFORE the drug is filled, yet they don't. Perhaps the drug prescribed is one that doesn't require that kind of record keeping by FDA standards, but if they were really concerned about patient safety, they'd do it anyway.


