What happens between my doctor sending a prescription to the pharmacy and me picking it up?
Does the pharmacy just have every single potential prescription sitting in the back and they count and portion it out as the order is received? Do they “make” any of the medicine on site? Seems unlikely for the pills with designated colors and markings.
And if a significant portion of the job is counting pills why do pharmacists require so much schooling?
In: Other
Counting pills is actually a rather small part of the job, comparatively, and pharmacists themselves barely even do that in the first place. That job, and many others (insurance claims, customer interaction, basic record keeping, general pharmacy maintenance) falls on the technicians, for whom no schooling is required.
The primary function of the pharmacist is to A) make sure their techs don’t fuck up your prescriptions, and B) make sure your doctors aren’t unknowingly trying to kill you. That second part is where all the schooling comes in. You’d be surprised just how many doctors blindly send things in that can have severe adverse reactions based on your specific medical history, and the issue is only compounded when you have multiple doctors. Pharmacists are there to identify and prevent such occurrences, as well as provide more general medication counseling.
Also, yes, pharmacies tend to stock the most common medications regularly and dispense accordingly. There’s only so many drugs out there, after all. Everyone gets the same stuff.
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