I was at a Walgreens pharmacy waiting with my mom for her scripts to be filled. An elderly woman, wearing a pink ball cap and sparce, thinned gray hair approached the counter. I could hear her conversation without even trying to listen. She asked the pharmacist what she should cleanse a small cut with. The pharmacist told her to use saline and pointed to were it was so she could buy some.
As she passed me, I did not know the pharmacist was making his way behind her, I politely said, "ma'am, I wasn't trying to ease drop, but you can just use soap and water and save some money, I'm a Nurse."
The pharmacist came right up behind me, moved in front of my face and said, "I don't think she asked you, she asked me" as he swayed that neck left to right.
Well, I was pissed at how rude he was, I went and talked to the manager, then went back to the counter to pick up scripts.
He came to the register and stood behind the cashier and said, "Just so you know, I have a PhD, and I know more you do" My jaw dropped and told him his PhD sure didn't teach him how to treat others. He kept arguing with me and mom. Finally, I had to walk away after he told me, "My name is Dr. Peebles " after telling him I was going to contact coporate and file a complaint.
Uggg, I know I was sticking my nose out but he didn't have to act so hateful
Well, imagine if the reverse were to happen. You're at work giving your patient requested advice. As the encounter ends and you start to walk away, the pharmacist walks over and says, "Excuse me, but I'm a pharmacist and I know better blah blah blah...".
I'm sorry, but I believe that you were the one behaving badly, in this case. You may have been well-meaning, but your behavior was obnoxious.
It's more like you are at work and advise your patient....and as you walk away, some random unrelated visitor comes up and says to your patient, "excuse me, but actually blah blah blah. I'm a pharmacist."
At your job. Where they are some random visitor that is totally unrelated to the situation at all. I would be annoyed!
#1 mistake that you made was that you gave a verbal order for a treatment and you was not on the clock, nor a NP or a PA( someone that can legally can give a order)
#2 mistake was if this person, said that he/she had a PhD and gave advice for the treatment, than you should have left that alone
#3 Never identify yourself as a nurse, unless you are asked for the information.....you can embarrass yourself when the next person holds credentials that is higher than what you have.......
#1 mistake that you made was that you gave a verbal order for a treatment and you was not on the clock, nor a NP or a PA( someone that can legally can give a order)
There is a big difference between providing well meaning advice (as I believe the OP was doing) and giving someone a "verbal order for a treatment." Giving a verbal order for a treatment would imply (at least to me) that the OP is telling someone else to do something to a patient when a care relationship has been established. Suggesting a soap/water wash to a stranger is really not a verbal order.
Once during chart reviews I had to flag an order and made an alert for our (SNF) charge nurse to correct the order. She kept unflagging it and crossing her name off. Once day I happened to be working when she was so I attempted to address it with her and her response was "well in my country I'm a doctor!" I dead faced looked at her and said "well in this one you are a crappy nurse so can you fix this order already?"
her order was written "Glucophage 750mg PO twice daily for seizures"
for a NPO diabetic patient with Gtube only. So yes she has a higher degree but still that's crappy nursing. The doctor wouldn't sign that on rounds. She did eventually fix it and she never again told me that in her country she's a doctor. It was her favorite phrase in any time of issues. She even said it during lunch once. It made me want to scream "NOBODY CARES!!!! **** ALREADY!!"
For the record, I have the utmost respect for those who have worked hard and earned advanced degrees. My problem was the manner in which he approached me and what I felt as disrespect in a consumer and professional transaction
I agree with you that he was disrespectful, and I agree with others that you were disrespectful. His advice would not have harmed the customer, and your contradiction publicly undermined him in front of the person he was trying to help.
I also think it's bad form to post the name of the pharmacy in your original post. This has nothing to do with the business itself, and does not represent that company any more than your behavior represents your employer. This is about two individuals who had a difference of opinion and both could've handled it better. I happened to work for that company for years, and not a single pharmacist I met tooted their horn about a degree or tried to sell a customer something that wasn't beneficial.
If I have to address someone as Dr #### then they have to address me as Ms Dee. It's only appropriate to use the title Doctor when you would usually use everyone's title. Eg This is Dr Green and Mrs Purple or this is Ted and Grace. Never use this is Dr Green and Grace.
I don't quite understand this. If you are all at a professional conference, then sure, it's Dr. X and Ms. Y. If you are a patient a medical appointment, do you refuse to call your doctor Dr. M unless they address you by your professional title?
It's about your role in the interaction and your relationship to the other person. You don't call your friends and family Dr. or Ms. (well, unless you like it that way ), and you don't call a doctor or teacher who is serving you as a patient or customer or student by their first name. It is not rude if a professional, while working in a professional capacity, wishes to be addressed formally with their credentials.
When the optometrist marches up to your pharmacy counter and announces he's picking up scripts for "DOC-TOR Smith" that's a different story (I'm sorry, I don't have anything ready for Smith with a first name of Doctor )
i get where you are coming from and i probably would have suggested the same thing to the lady. And yes the pharmacist could have been nicer. I just usually don't like confrontation so I would have not engaged further with the pharmacist. But don't let it bother you. Some people just have poor social skills
I would have minded my own business, and not made it obvious that I had "eavesdropped" on a private conversation between the pharmacist and a client. I realize the conversation was probably easily overheard, but, still, I believe that most of us go out of our way in those situations to at least pretend that we're not overhearing the conversation the other person is having with the professional. Seems like just basic courtesy to me.
If I had a similar conversation with a pharmacist and someone came up to me afterwards, however well-meaning, and said, "Oh, I heard your conversation and you should do such-and-such instead," I would be deeply offended, regardless of how good the unsolicited advice might be.
I would have minded my own business, and not made it obvious that I had "eavesdropped" on a private conversation between the pharmacist and a client. I realize the conversation was probably easily overheard, but, still, I believe that most of us go out of our way in those situations to at least pretend that we're not overhearing the conversation the other person is having with the professional. Seems like just basic courtesy to me.
If I had a similar conversation with a pharmacist and someone came up to me afterwards, however well-meaning, and said, "Oh, I heard your conversation and you should do such-and-such instead," I would be deeply offended, regardless of how good the unsolicited advice might be.
oh.. I read it wrong and thought the last asked her for her advice.
I figure if someone has taken the time to get an advanced education (far more years than I), he actually DOES know more than I do.
This is one of the few web sites I visit where there is such disdain shown for advanced education. If it's more than the member posting has, it's just "fluff" or "frou frou." But don't dare show disrespect for what I LEARNED, I worked HARD for my license.
I don't disagree with your first statement (although more education in a non-nursing discipline doesn't make them more knowledgeable on nursing issues). To be fair though, I don't think anyone here would call PharmD education useless fluff. I do have my BSN, and I definitely consider a lot of those bridge classes useless fluff.
I call people by their first names. Maybe it's a culture thing, but here if you insist on being called by a title you will instantly get people's backs up and people will think you're suffering from delusions of grandeur. I wouldn't think of calling a pharmacist anything but the name on his badge, his or her first name. Obviously if you need to specify that you want to speak to a pharmacist that's fine, but I need to speak to Dr Green the pharmacist? No chance.
), and you don't call a doctor or teacher who is serving you as a patient or customer or student by their first name. It is not rude if a professional, while working in a professional capacity, wishes to be addressed formally with their credentials.
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Julius Seizure
1 Article; 2,282 Posts
It's more like you are at work and advise your patient....and as you walk away, some random unrelated visitor comes up and says to your patient, "excuse me, but actually blah blah blah. I'm a pharmacist."
At your job. Where they are some random visitor that is totally unrelated to the situation at all. I would be annoyed!