The vast majority of individuals are aware that mistakes made by humans are possible in any situation, even while getting a prescription filled at the drugstore. Even if they try their hardest, pharmacists are human and sometimes make mistakes. Mistakes made in the past are quickly becoming a thing of the past thanks to improved warning labels on medications and technology like barcode scanning.
- In most cases, patients are not put in danger or suffer long-term consequences from the relatively few pharmaceutical errors that are made.
- Nevertheless, that offers very little solace to a customer who has been injured or who may have been injured if a more significant mistake had been made.
- When errors occur in pharmacies, customers are frequently more frustrated by the reaction they receive from the pharmacy than they are by the fault itself.
They can have the impression that the pharmacist, the technician, or the management of the pharmacy did not react appropriately when they brought up the likelihood of a dispensing error. An error report that was submitted by a customer serves as an excellent illustration of this.
- When a customer picked up her prescription for the anxiety medication alprazolam (Xanax), she was surprised to see that the tablets were white rather than blue as she had anticipated.
- She reasoned that the pharmacist must have switched to a different generic medication, so she followed the directions on the bottle and took only one tablet.
After two hours, she took another tablet since she was still experiencing nervous feelings despite the medication. After waiting for a few hours, she phoned her physician, who instructed her to take two more tablets in addition to the ones she was already taking.
- The customer, who was still experiencing anxiety, phoned the drugstore when she began shivering, felt chilly and restless, and noticed that both her mind and heart were beating very quickly.
- The client was informed that the tablets were a thyroid medication after the pharmacist questioned the color of the pills as well as any marks they could have.
After that, he advised the customer to speak with the manager of the pharmacy the next day in order to swap the thyroid medication for the appropriate medication. That completed the exercise. There was not even an acknowledgment of the customer’s distress, let alone an apology or expression of sympathy.
The following day, the manager of the drugstore did not give an apology either. She did little more than switch the tablets around and wish me well before leaving. The customer had been up all night and continued to feel uncomfortable despite not having slept. But that was it—the complete answer from the drugstore.
When Pharmacy Gives Wrong Medication, Prescription, or Dosage (Simple Guide)
Even though this bad response is obviously not common in all pharmacies, it does imply that some pharmacy staff members have not been educated to respond appropriately when a customer claims that they have made a mistake. Instead, customers are requested to bring the incorrect medication back to the pharmacy, where it will be exchanged for the proper medication when it has been verified.
There is a possibility that certain pharmacies will provide customers with a discount voucher or a refund for the money spent on the incorrect medication. It’s possible that employees at the pharmacy wish to be more attentive to customers who report mistakes. They may, however, be required to follow pharmacy policies that, due to legal concerns, may not encourage pharmacy staff to apologize for the error, explain how it occurred, or share what will be done to avoid errors of a similar nature in the future.
This may be the case because these policies may not encourage pharmacy staff to explain how the error occurred. The following is what you should anticipate: Even if you’ve had a bad experience at the pharmacy in the past, you shouldn’t be afraid to alert the employees there if you have any reason to believe there may be a problem with the medication you were prescribed.
In the event that there has been an error, it is fair for you to anticipate that the employees at the pharmacy will undertake the following: I will as soon as possible schedule some time to chat to you. Show proper deference for you. Acknowledge that a mistake was made and provide an apology to the person affected.
Talk to your primary care provider about what has transpired (if you have taken any doses of the wrong medicine). You should consult your primary care physician or check into a hospital immediately (if you may have been harmed or put at risk by taking the wrong medicine).
What are the ethics of pharmacy technician?
The Items Contained Within the Code – The code outlines ten fundamental guidelines for ethical conduct in its entirety. Pharmacy technicians are responsible for ensuring the patient’s health and safety at all times, acting with moral honesty and integrity at all times, keeping patient information secret at all times, and working safely and effectively at all times.
- In accordance with another provision of the code, pharmacy technicians are required to keep their levels of competence at all times and to keep in contact with relevant professional organizations.
- It is the responsibility of pharmacy technicians to report any unlawful or unethical activity that they see taking place in the pharmacy.
These recommendations do not carry the force of law and may even, in certain circumstances, be in direct opposition to certain legislative mandates. In situations like these, the pharmacy technician needs to exercise their professional judgment.