Once in a blue moon

How are you all doing out there in pharmacy land?

Once again, it's been a while since I decided to sit and write some things in here in this space that was supposed to help me deal with the things that were going on.

Obviously, much has changed in the 3 years since I last posted.

My pharmacy manager is the same, but the other pharmacist is different, the previous tech I was working with is gone, and I have two new partners to help me out here.

We also have a third pharmacist here as well as two other locations staffed by new people additionally.

When I said business was booming at the end of my last post, I had no idea how much it was going to explode.

We've gone from an operation that was lucky to hit 100 scripts in a day to routinely doing 300-350 on our busiest days. We've pushed past 4,000 scripts in recent months, a testament to how busy we've become.

But don't worry; the clientele have not changed much since I joined this pharmacy 5 years ago.

Oh, and I no longer work for my other job.

We've changed what pharmacy software we use, lost our courier, had several spats with USPS over the process of mailing scripts out, and have had a few spats with some fellow coworkers when they fail to understand how a pharmacy operates.

Our drug treatment program continues to be a tremendous pain in the ass, even with a new coordinator and constant complaints about the way the pharmacy is treated in the process. We've essentially been reduced to messengers and only when we absolutely put our feet down about dispensing someone their meds to some individuals listen to what we have to say.

But, life is good in the pharmacy. The entirety of the pharmacy staff across all three locations is great. The teamwork is tremendous, and we make difficult days seem pretty easy sometimes.

So while there have been rough stretches, I absolutely cannot complain about this place and the effect it's had on my life.

I can't promise I'll be rolling out posts regularly. The idea is to utilize Microsoft Office's cloud save feature to "jot" down ideas as they come to me while I'm at work or thinking about work, then follow Dr. Grumpy's model of waiting an extended period of time before actually posting the content.

Of course, the best ideas often fail to materialize and right now I'm going through a very tough stretch of time in my own personal life.

But I want to keep this going as it can give you some insight into the day to day operations of a small, independent pharmacy in America.

Or how insane it can be.

Anyway, here's to me actually updating this occasionally and engaging readers in conversations about pharmacy and healthcare in general.