Sometimes Things Just Work Out

  Two men approached the counter at my pharmacy. One was younger and the other was elderly. The younger man had some papers in his hand. They both looked worried.
  I came to them and asked how I could help them. The younger man told me that his mother was just released from the hospital. There was one medication that they needed and the prescription had been sent to a pharmacy that is not open on Sunday. He and his father were wondering if I could help. I looked at what they needed. It was an injectable blood thinner and something that could not wait until Monday. I made sure we had the drug in stock.
  I've run into this situation many times before. We call the hospital, get the prescription and then fill it. It seems simple, but there is a lot that can go wrong in this process. I could tell that these two men were seriously concerned. Her next dose was due that evening and missing that dose could cause complications.
  I couldn't find a phone number for the hospital on the discharge papers, so I looked in the yellow pages. While I looked up the number I made a joke about younger people not knowing what yellow pages are. The men seemed to relax a little. The only number I could find was the emergency room. I called it and they gave me the main switchboard number. I called the main number and was transferred to someone who could help.
  I was told that they would page the doctor who discharged her. Things looked to be well in hand. I sent the men to shop while I waited for the call.
  Ten minutes later the doctor called. He didn't have the discharge in front of him so he gave me the prescription from memory. That worried me, but I knew I could check it against the patient's discharge papers. The men retuned from their shopping.
  I checked the discharge papers. The doctor had given me the correct drug and dose. I went to enter the patient's name into the computer and found we had a file started for her. All it lacked was her current insurance information. The husband looked in his wallet for the current insurance card. He didn't have it. I checked our file and saw that I had enough information to do a Medicare query. I was able to get the information I needed from the query. So far so good.
  I was now at a place where another snag could occur. If the other pharmacy had already billed the insurance, the claim that I would submit would be rejected. This was a very expensive medication. I quickly made a plan of what to do if that happened. I said a quick prayer and submitted my claim. It went through without a problem.
  All I needed to do was label the package, check my work and ring them up. I couldn't believe how well this was going. Seldom does anything like this go smoothly. I was nearly dancing with joy. There wasn't a single hitch at all.
  I rang them up. They were very grateful for what I had done. I was happy that all went well.
  It's times like this that make me thankful and proud to be part of the pharmacy profession. Those men knew that I genuinely cared and wanted to help them. My heart was warm and I was smiling so hard my face hurt. I don't often have things happen this way but it's nice to know that they can. Sometimes things just work out.