doctors not paying attention

Yesterday I called my PCP's office and spoke to the nurse because I needed my PCP to write a prescription for the OTC vitamins I take.  Because I am disabled, my rent is subsidized and when they calculate how much I have to pay, they take into consideration my medical expenses as well as my income and other factors.  They said I could count my vitamins as a medical expense if my doctor wrote a script for them, even though they are OTC. 

So I gave the nurse my long list of vitamins and she read the list back to me to make sure she had it right.  And she did.  And she apparently is at least somewhat familiar with the needs of RNY patients because when I didn't mention B12 (because I already have a script for that, I get the shots), she asked me about it.

Anyway, today I picked up the script and I noticed the dose was wrong for a few of the vitamins.  I told the nurse, and she read back to me correctly, that I take 50,000 IU D3 three times a week.  I also take 25,000 IU vitamin A three times a week.  Well, the script my doctor signed says 50,000 IU D3 and 25,000 IU vitamin A THREE TIMES A DAY.

You probably know I am not normally too worried about vitamin toxicity but doses like that would definitely worry even me!

I'm not sure if the error was the nurse's or the doc's, but he signed it. 

I have a few stories that would make your hair curl----or at least make you scream !

Nurses really do keep doctors from killing patients.

Your doctor signed them AND his nurse should have caught the error.

Glad you are smart enough to know what YOU are doing !!!

That much vitamin D or vitamin A would be really dangerous.  I mean, not if I just took it once or twice but if I took 150,000 IU D3 or 75,000 IU A for a month?

Doctors are supposed to be so concerned about getting sued these days.  Well, if I took the amount on the script he signed, he would find himself being sued.  I am just amazed that they aren't more careful.

I've experienced other things where someone clearly wasn't paying attention.  Once when I was in the hospital, there was another patient with the same first name and a similar last name as mine.  One night when the nurse gave me my meds, I looked at them before taking them (which I always do in the hospital) and they didn't look right.  I questioned her and it turned out she had tried to give me the other patients meds.  Also during that hospitalization, one morning my doctor came in and said to me "I saw in your chart that you were really anxious last night and they gave you [I don't remember the name of the drug he said] for it."  I said no, that didn't happen.  Well, it was written in my chart.  Turned out that was the other patient, too, the nurse just wrote it on the wrong chart.  That is really scary stuff.

When I had my surgery, the nurse gave me my Pepcid. A few short minutes later when she popped in the room, I asked her for a dose of Xanax. "I just gave it to you," she said. "No, you gave me Pepcid. I'd like my Xanax, please." "It's the same thing," she said. "No, it's not...Xanax" I replied. (And I assure you, I don't have a speech impediment!) This went on for a couple of minutes until I became exasperated and said "Xanax! Benzodiazepines, you know? For anxiety?"

"Oh!" She said. "I thought you were saying Zantac!"

Another nurse came in to give me two medications, one liquid and one pill. I took the liquid she handed me, and asked about the pill. "I gave it to you," she said. I told her that she hadn't, and she continued to insist that she had, that she'd given me both meds. We argued for a while, and she finally looked around on the medication cart. "Oh, here it is! I guess I didn't give it to you after all!"

I'm not slagging nurses here at all. They do important work, they're underappreciated, and I know they have a lot on their plates at work. But, like doctors, nurses are human, and it's important that we are aware enough to double check everything they do for us.

I read somewhere that one reason medication errors happen is because so many drugs have similar sounding names.  And the article I read suggested that doctors could write what the drug is being prescribed for on the script to  help prevent errors.  I think that would be a good idea. 

That is scary...

I was a pharmacy tech for a while, and I was in constant fear of that happening.  It's one of the reasons I didn't stay.

But at the hospital I had my surgery, before I was given any meds, they scanned my bracelet, and then the electronic chart, and then gave the med.  It made me feel comfortable.

The hospital I had my surgery at had the same system. It did make me feel a bit more relaxed about getting my meds.

I like my PCP, she's normally very much on top of things. However, doctors being human and all, mistakes happen. I have notations all over my chart and everywhere else that I'm allergic to codeine (true allergy, I swell up and have an anaphylactic reaction). Once when I visited her office for bronchitis, she sent in an electronic script to the pharmacy. It was only once I got to the pharmacy that the pharmacist said "Ah, we have a call in to your doctor, your records here show that you're allergic to codeine, and she prescribed a cough medicine with codeine."

By the same token, I've had pharmacists fill prescriptions for the completely wrong medication.

Human error means it's important to be an informed consumer and double check everything.

I know mistakes can happen and no one is perfect.  I always try to stay on top of what I'm being prescribed and making sure the pharmacy gives me the right things and all that stuff.  Because I know mistakes can happen.

Kelly, are you getting the prescription for accounting purposes only, or are you getting it filled? I am thinking you will still be buying vitamins and supplements as you always have, but need the script so they will apply those costs in their formula.