Hi.......pour yourself a large brandy...........
Hell what a mess I have had today. The pharmacist yesterday had given a woman's drugs to a very old confused man. The SOP states you should always check the patients name and address, but we looked at the CCTV of the pharmacist giving out the script, and it appeared that nothing was said.
So that led to a confused guy going home with a womans drugs. He ignored about half of them, but last night took: -
1 x 50mcg thyroxine (labelled 100mg)
1 x 150mg tradazone tablet
1 x 5mg amlodipine tablet
1 x 20mg simvastatin tablet
He lived in sheltered housing, and the warden wanted to take him to hospital last night, because he was so groggy from taking the trazadone. He was a grumpy kind of guy and refused to go to the hospital.
He was still a bit groggy this morning when he came back in the shop, and didn't really realise what was going on. His own medication was in the shop, waiting for him to collect - safely put away yesterday! He eventually (not yet) left the shop with the correct medication, but I was concerned he might suffer a fall, or step under a bus or something! He wouldn't listen to any advice, and got very agitated as he just wanted to leave.
When I opened up the drugs he had been given (and had just returned), among it there were 50 and 100mcg thyroxine, but the labels were the wrong way round on two boxes of each i.e. four boxes had been incorrectly labelled.
The fun didn't stop there. The husband of the woman came back in, the same time the old man was in the shop. The pharmacist yesterday had simply re-dispensed his wifes drugs, but I'm not sure why he didn't try to get the wrong bag back from the old man, as the store does have a driver, but maybe he didn't realise the mistake he'd made.
Anyway, when the womans husband brought back her drugs, three of them were missing! The packet was unopened, so the only conclusion I could come to were that they were indeed omitted from the original dispensing. When I say three drugs I mean she had co-prox and trazadone missing and her husband had co-prox missing. The old guy had the womans drugs, so had a packet of co-prox to go at as well, fortunately he hadn't touched any of them. I wasn't going to let the old guy go, until I knew exactly what he had taken, in case he had overdosed on something and did need the hospital. Thats when I found the tablets he had taken, and attempted to try to explain to him what had happened, and made sure his own drugs were correct. After that and a lot of grumbling he left with the correct drugs.
So basically the old guy had the womans, but the four boxes in total of thyroxine were wrongly labelled, and the woman had her own and her husbands drugs, but three of them were missing! I'm not even sure how many mistakes this all adds up to!
Then this led to talks with the old mans nurse, his GP practice manager etc. The area manager was called in, and will be visiting the store tomorrow.
At the peak of this, I had a 1 year old child prescribed phenergan elixir, which is clearly stated is not for anyone under the age of two, and I was on the phone to the childs GP at the same time as trying to sort this mess out. The old guy was there, all confused and agitated, and a man wondering why that old guy over there had his wifes drug all at the time I was in the middle of speaking to a GP and he was talking to another GP at the practice!
I did as much as I could in the circumstance, but was glad to get home at around 7pm.
The moral of this story is MAKE SURE YOU ARE GIVING DRUGS TO THE CORRECT PATIENT !!!
The knock ons from this simple error can be massive.
Hell what a mess I have had today. The pharmacist yesterday had given a woman's drugs to a very old confused man. The SOP states you should always check the patients name and address, but we looked at the CCTV of the pharmacist giving out the script, and it appeared that nothing was said.
So that led to a confused guy going home with a womans drugs. He ignored about half of them, but last night took: -
1 x 50mcg thyroxine (labelled 100mg)
1 x 150mg tradazone tablet
1 x 5mg amlodipine tablet
1 x 20mg simvastatin tablet
He lived in sheltered housing, and the warden wanted to take him to hospital last night, because he was so groggy from taking the trazadone. He was a grumpy kind of guy and refused to go to the hospital.
He was still a bit groggy this morning when he came back in the shop, and didn't really realise what was going on. His own medication was in the shop, waiting for him to collect - safely put away yesterday! He eventually (not yet) left the shop with the correct medication, but I was concerned he might suffer a fall, or step under a bus or something! He wouldn't listen to any advice, and got very agitated as he just wanted to leave.
When I opened up the drugs he had been given (and had just returned), among it there were 50 and 100mcg thyroxine, but the labels were the wrong way round on two boxes of each i.e. four boxes had been incorrectly labelled.
The fun didn't stop there. The husband of the woman came back in, the same time the old man was in the shop. The pharmacist yesterday had simply re-dispensed his wifes drugs, but I'm not sure why he didn't try to get the wrong bag back from the old man, as the store does have a driver, but maybe he didn't realise the mistake he'd made.
Anyway, when the womans husband brought back her drugs, three of them were missing! The packet was unopened, so the only conclusion I could come to were that they were indeed omitted from the original dispensing. When I say three drugs I mean she had co-prox and trazadone missing and her husband had co-prox missing. The old guy had the womans drugs, so had a packet of co-prox to go at as well, fortunately he hadn't touched any of them. I wasn't going to let the old guy go, until I knew exactly what he had taken, in case he had overdosed on something and did need the hospital. Thats when I found the tablets he had taken, and attempted to try to explain to him what had happened, and made sure his own drugs were correct. After that and a lot of grumbling he left with the correct drugs.
So basically the old guy had the womans, but the four boxes in total of thyroxine were wrongly labelled, and the woman had her own and her husbands drugs, but three of them were missing! I'm not even sure how many mistakes this all adds up to!
Then this led to talks with the old mans nurse, his GP practice manager etc. The area manager was called in, and will be visiting the store tomorrow.
At the peak of this, I had a 1 year old child prescribed phenergan elixir, which is clearly stated is not for anyone under the age of two, and I was on the phone to the childs GP at the same time as trying to sort this mess out. The old guy was there, all confused and agitated, and a man wondering why that old guy over there had his wifes drug all at the time I was in the middle of speaking to a GP and he was talking to another GP at the practice!
I did as much as I could in the circumstance, but was glad to get home at around 7pm.
The moral of this story is MAKE SURE YOU ARE GIVING DRUGS TO THE CORRECT PATIENT !!!
The knock ons from this simple error can be massive.

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