Voices 04-15-2013

Dispatch from the front lines

Re: "You are a pharmacist, right?" [JP at Large, January 2013]: Bravo! Another excellent piece from JP. Unfortunately, his condensed article expands into the dystopia known as pharmacy every single day. No matter how short the shift, there’s always at least one customer who manages to call or show up and ruin a good thing.

The cheerful banter in the pharmacy ceases at the sight of a certain woman’s hair as she walks across the store toward the pharmacy, or of a particular male customer’s phone number, flashing on the caller-ID screen. It’s the one person no one wants to deal with, and we find ourselves in an intense game of “paper-rock-scissors” to see who will be the next sucker to take one for the team.

Techs are often on the front line, getting eaten alive by angry shrews on their high horses. JP’s article is a refreshing reminder that we’re not alone.

Thank you, JP, for seeing technicians as valuable assets and for accurately expressing everything we feel in your articles.

Andrea Corbitt, CPhT

Nashville, Tenn.

Be nice or else

Regarding disturbances in the pharmacy:

At our store we maintain a “no harassment” policy. That means no harassment of any sort between employees or toward employees. If someone is acting out or abusive, we ask them nicely to behave. If they refuse, we ask them to leave. A bartender would throw an unruly customer out. We do the same.

It is imperative that the pharmacist, owner, or store manager demand that customers act in a civil manner. I am amazed that anyone would tolerate outrageous or threatening behavior in a pharmacy. The fact that my friends in large chains feel they have to tolerate outrageous behavior is the fault of chain store management.

Don Porter, RPh

St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

Probably not the last word

It is regrettable that both James Hays, CPhT, and Jen Perry, pharmacy technician [Letters, February 2013], missed the point of my letter [Letters, Oct 2012], which was in response to Jim Plagakis’ column “Natural doesn’t always equal harmless” [JP at Large, August 2012]. I certainly did not “imply” that techs were “less concerned with caring for the patient than the pharmacist,” just that the pharmacist is the best person to answer these questions and, I may add, the only one legally allowed to do so.

I meant no disrespect to pharmacy technicians. An excellent pharmacy technician is worth his or her weight in gold, and I feel that pharmacy technicians are underpaid for the responsibilities that they have in the modern pharmacy.

Denise Lutz, PD

Baltimore, MD.

Not a real tight argument

Re: “Vitamin D deficiency linked to autism” [Hospital Pharmacists’ Report, Jan. 4], The article implies that the link between vitamin D and autism is decreased sun exposure in northeastern and West Coast states vs. southern and Plains states. This argument seems weak.

For example, I could speculate that there are more motorcycle accidents in southern and Plains states, but this is more likely to be due to year-round riding vs. seasonal riding, which occurs in the north.

I could just as easily have linked the increased accidents to higher levels of vitamin D.

I’m just saying that many other factors may be involved. Zeroing in on Vitamin D is somewhat arbitrary.

Gary Lantz, RPh

Mason, Mich.