Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve G  Here's my rant for the day:
At least when following a poor locum you don't actually work with them. I've had the mispleasure of working with a bloody useless locum over the last two days - giving antibiotics out with no advice for instance. But then today was even worse: a script came down the other day for oxycontin 5mg bd and oxynorm 20mg bd (both typed generically). The locum gave the rx out with no questions asked, despite the fact the bd is obviously a bit strange for oxynorm. If he'd bothered to look at the PMR he'd have seen that the patient has been on oxycontin 25mg bd for ages, so it needed checking out.
I only noticed the Rx had been given out when entering the CDs recieved from the wholesaler (the rx had been repeated from the PMR, so we got a box of oxycontin 20mg and 5mg in). I ended up phoning the GP, and of course found out that the Rx had been messed up by the surgery, so got the GP to do a new and correct rx, went down to the surgery to collect it and delivered the correct drugs to the patient.
And to make matters even worse, this locum was so slow it was ridiculous. I would have been better off working by myself. And even more galling is the fact that he's probably made £400 over the two days (8 hrs per day), while muggins here has earnt £315 (9 hrs/day) even though I did all the bloody work. Some locums give the profession a very bad name. |
I'm not starting a locum/manager war here - because I am both - but I have gone into shops where the manager just seems not to have thought through the working day. Recently, I was in a shop where nothing was ready for the day for the dispense weekly patients and I only learned about them when the patient came in to the shop. Some of them get A LOT of items and it took a long time in an already busy pharmacy. I was told that anytime staff tried to do the installment scripts they were told to stop and that 'walk in scripts were more important' so people weren't waiting for a long time! SO...when they come in to get their installment that isn't them waitng unnecessarily and taking time to do that doesn't slow the other waiters down?! Right! I left a note! Oh dear, makes me sound like the demon locum, 'don't book him, you'll get a note'!
Ok, I should balance this argument a bit, I have followed a locum who was a lazy get, and I got him on the phone and told him - just so happened I had to call the pharmacy he was in. He wasn't taking in new prescriptions after 4.45pm, shop shuts at 6pm. There must have been shed loads of stuff to do, cause the day I got there, no order was put away, surgery scripts were piled high and a guy came in to collect an extempt cream - from three days ago - and it hadn't been made up! Neither had the methadone for the day nor the Sunday - this was a Saturday.
I get a bit 'involved' telling these don't I?! I shall now have some camomile tea!
