BE CAREFUL!

Okay, so today we went to the doctor for Leah's never ending cough and Lauren's flu shot. The good doc gave us an antibiotic and Claritin for Leah. No big deal! We went to Walgreen's.....AFTER LOOKING AT THE RX....I handed the prescription over. I waited an hour when they said 30 minutes. Still, not a big deal. I am so lucky that I have a background in pharmacy. When I got home I looked at the directions on Leah's Claritin. It said to give her more than an adult dose!!!! I couldn't believe my eyes. If I was any regular old person, the dose doesn't seem to be obscene. But knowing that an adult is to take 10mg daily and the doc prescribed 2.5mg daily...and they gave it to her saying 12.5mg daily. I was horrified and nauseous. If I had not realized how much that was, it could have been very very bad. I called the pharmacist. I told her what it said and waited for a reaction. It was (not very sincerely) apologetic. She said all she could do was apologize and that was that. HA! Ya right lady! I am calling Walgreen's tomorrow so she can have that put on her license. I know I know it isn't like she was giving her 3 times the dose of seizure med and Leah didn't get that high dose (because I am not an idiot). BUT, she COULD HAVE! If it was any person without a knowledge of pharmacy, she would have gotten that dose! I am sorry...not my kid! Not cool lady. Not cool. You know, I know pharmacists I have worked with have made mistakes. It does happen. But I realized that it is different when your own children are the "victim". Leah could have gotten very sick or worse. We would have definitely would have ended up in the emergency room. That is the biggest thing about chain pharmacies. They don't care. They really don't. It is a production line. I worked at enough of them to know. I urge you all to utilize your LOCALLY OWNED pharmacy. They actually care about the patient. Mistakes happen everywhere. But you know what....it doesn't make me feel better. What makes me feel better is that I took a minute to look at the prescription before I just handed it over blindly. Also, I wasn't offered counseling from the pharmacist (big boo boo in pharmacy-it is a law) AND I heard the tech ask her to override a DUR for it. I was standing right there and he told me it was in denial and he had to have her override it before he could run it through all the way. She probably didn't even look at the reject...probably just typed in the approval code and let it pass without a thought. My Leah could have been so sick. It makes me so sick.

I beg all of you....PLEASE look and understand the dose, medication and directions BEFORE handing it over. Ask the tech or pharmacist to explain it to you beforehand if you can't decipher it yourself. Or, have them triple check it at the register. AND NEVER NEVER BE AFRAID TO QUESTION YOUR PHARMACY STAFF. Really, they would prefer to not lose their licenses or kill people. :-) But seriously...understand what you are getting. Thank goodness I am not an idiot!