Mod 29
Based on stories he’s told me before: yes, the doctor has to prescribe the medication and he can only fill what he’s told to fill. However, he does have the right to overrule the doctor and say that he will not fill the medication. It has to be for a good reason (overdose, patient is abusing medication, drug interaction) and is done infrequently but he does have that power. It’s a two way street. The prescriber is, in some ways, at mercy of the pharmacist too.
Health
He and I have talked about this before – when one fellow asked him if he has eye drops for pink eye (he sent him to urgent care and told him not to use Visine). It comes from the fact that doctors are busy and some patients have high copay or aren’t insured at all. Pharmacists are known as the most accessible healthcare providers and people come to them with medical questions – many of which they can answer. When you add low health literacy to the mix combine with people don’t understand what we are and are not allowed to do is when you have people coming in asking for a diagnosis and a medications which for the most part we cannot provide (exceptions: Narcan [state dependent], human insulin, contraceptives [state dependent]).