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| Do not disturb the vaccinating pharmacist: therapy session in progress: Rants and Musings of a Retail Pharmacist |
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by The Redheaded Pharmacist - October 10, 2011
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Provided by The Redheaded Pharmacist
Have you seen the commercials that joke about something like “I’m not a brain surgeon but I stayed at a Holiday Express last night?” Well, I’d like to make my own catchy phrase for retail pharmacists: I’m not a therapist but I did work as a retail pharmacist yesterday.
Sometimes pharmacists and pharmacy technicians play a different role at work. They become therapists or even simply listening boards for people who need to talk. I found myself in that situation recently at work.
It was a busy shift I like to call “Crazy beginning of the flu shot season Monday” and I was giving an elderly patient her vaccine. After it was over she says to me “I wish I could get my blood pressure checked too. They usually check that for me here as well.”
I was practically staring at a blood pressure machine we had in the counseling room/vaccination room when she said what she did so I offered to check her blood pressure for her. As it turns out her blood pressure was much higher than you’d want it to be. She had an appointment coming up soon with her doctor and I told her to ask about it while in her doctor’s office.
It is at this point that my role as a pharmacist was relieved. I became a person this woman needed to talk to about what was actually causing that increase in blood pressure: stress. And the reason behind her stress was something I wasn’t expecting. But that is what makes retail pharmacy work enjoyable: the unexpected.
She told me about her ex-husband. This is a man she had been married to for decades. They split and weren’t living together anymore but they both decided to try and remain friends despite their falling out in the love department. Honorable intentions if you ask me. I know how difficult break ups can be even if it is in the best interests of everyone involved.
This patient goes on to tell me that her ex-husband had committed suicide a few months back. She was having a hard time dealing with the loss and the confusion and anger and all the other emotions that come to those that suicide victims leave behind. It is such a final act but it affects so many people other than the person who commits suicide. I don’t think many of the people that make this kind of decision realize the waves they create in the lives of others. Those troubled waters last for a long time after the fact.
I told the woman that having someone you know and care about commit suicide can be difficult to accept and comprehend. You don’t understand why. You don’t usually get to say goodbye. It is unexpected. And there is no reversing their decision because those people are already gone. The finality of it all is difficult to accept. And you don’t want to accept the fact that someone is really gone.
She seemed to agree with what I was saying to her but she was visibly upset by the thought of this person’s death. And I really didn’t have the tools or abilities to comfort her in the way she needed. I simply told her to try and mourn and accept what is already done and not let it fester inside. Because that, I assured her, wasn’t healthy for her or anyone else trying to grasp what happened.
She thanked me for my time and we parted ways. I went back to my maddeningly busy shift and was lost within my work before I could even realize what had happened. It is so easy now at work to get lost in the hectic nature of work and simply forget problems or patient interactions you’ve had with people. There are usually too many distractions to dwell on one thing for too long.
But I can’t help but wonder if I said the right things to her that day. I even wonder what the right things to say would have been for that matter. I wasn’t prepared to be a therapist that busy Monday morning. But I was there and available to this patient and she took advantage of the opportunity to share something with me that was really weighing on her. And maybe just listening was enough in itself?
As for me, I can’t help but feel woefully under-qualified and under-prepared for interactions and situations similar to this flu shot patient and her story. We were never trained to be counselors in pharmacy school. It wasn’t like this patient quizzed me on some random part of the kidney. She wanted something else from me that day. She wanted a pair of ears and someone to simply listen. But she needed even more than that. And I now wonder if I did enough or said enough or said too much that morning? Second guessing yourself can be easy to do.
I just hope that I can help people like this elderly woman when I come across them at work. But I can’t help but feel like a fish out of water when I do encounter them. I guess you can chalk that up as one more challenge of being a pharmacist. Sometimes you will be asked to play the part of therapist. But for us, the challenge is that you never know who your patients will be or when the therapy sessions will happen. Just like the flu shots themselves I think I’d be more comfortable if they were scheduled. Funny how that works out isn’t it?
The Redheaded Pharmacist
The Redheaded Pharmacist has been working full time in retail pharmacy for more than a decade. He is in his mid 30s, and, yes, he has red hair.
Disclaimer: This blog represents the opinions of the author and the author alone. It does not represent any pharmacy group or organization. I also will leave out or change the names of patients/customers to protect their privacy and comply with government regulations regarding patient privacy rights and personal information.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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| Larry (San Diego) |
on 11 Oct 2011 at 12:14 pm |
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Way to go Red!
It's this kind of patient interaction that drew us to community pharamacy in the first place. |
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