BitingTheDust

The following is part of a long post from a blog called The Pharmacy Chick as she talk about the professional satisfaction and more she receives from vaccinating patients. Written some time ago it has only recently been published in the Auspharm newsletter.

About 5 years ago, the state I live in decided to allow pharmacists to vaccinate. I was slow to jump on the bandwagon by one year. I took the wait-and-see stance before I plunged a syringe into somebody’s arm. One year later found me in a class learning proper technique (which I already knew from my nurse-mother-who-needed-allergy-shots-for-years. Somehow I knew that this would be a good thing for my business and profession. I was right.

I started out with flu shots. I was nervous as a cat at my first clinic. I was convinced that some yo-yo would faint on me. Nobody did, and 10,000 shots later, nobody has fainted on me yet, although a few smart alecks ask me if they need to “bend over” Uh, no thanks.

A surprising thing happened however–customers looked at me different. I ceased to be the pill-counting machine they thought me to be. They discovered I had hands that did something different than just fill prescriptions, ring up sales and hand them the bag. They touched the patient! They discovered I had a lap that sat next to them, even if its just for a minute. They found out they could have my rapt attention when they had an appointment for a shot. No competition for the phone/pill tray/cash register/and every other customer. One on One for a few precious moments, eye to eye, sitting next to them in a chair. This was something they had never seen me do: sit.

They also discovered that I could provide a service that had been previously monopolized by the Dr’s office. I was soon vaccinating pneumococcal, TD, Hep A, Hep B, Meningococcal, and others.

How I was perceived by these people changed. An interesting observation: Joe hands me a prescription for Drug X and asks how long it will take. I tell him 15 minutes and he balks “THAT LONG?” Steve comes in and inquires about a Tetanus shot. He asks how long it will take: 20 minutes “THATS ALL?” It seems that all it takes to increase the respect quotient, is a sharp needle.

A few lines further down she says: “Its one of those rare instances where we get paid for the service aspect of this profession.”

Take a look at the whole post

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Posted: September 9th, 2008 under Remote health.
Tags: pharmacy, vaccinations