Oh my good god. I just had the most frustrating conversation with one of the receptionists at Awesome Doctor's office. I'm seriously thinking about writing a letter of complaint. I was calling for 2 refills -- the first one she said wasn't in my chart. I said "I've been taking the drug for THREE YEARS, so I'm sure it's in my chart!" She said that no it wasn't, and she'd have to talk to the doctor. She put me on hold, came back, and said okay, it would be called in.

The second refill was for my albuterol inhaler -- again, she said it wasn't in my chart. I almost asked her if she was sure she was looking at MY chart. So she said she'd have to talk to the doctor. She came back to the phone and said "Okay, we'll call in the ATENOLOL."

I said, "WHAT?!? I don't take atenolol! I need a refill for an albuterol inhaler! A-L-B-U-T-E-R-O-L!" Oh my god. She almost gave me the wrong drug (one which I've never taken, so I don't know where she came up with it).

There's a second prong to this clusterfuck. My pharmacy was supposed to call Awesome Doctor's office last Friday about the albuterol, but when I went to CVS Friday evening, they did not have the inhaler for me. So I assumed that CVS forgot to call Awesome Doctor. So, when I talked to the dipshit receptionist, I asked her if CVS had called about the inhaler. She said no they had not.

So after I got off the phone with dipshit receptionist, I called CVS to give them a piece of my mind -- because if they said they were going to call, they should follow through on it. Well, the pharmacist said that not only did they call, they had the inhaler ready for me to pick up. So the dipshit receptionist was wrong about that, too (because she said that CVS did not call, when obviously they did).

That is WAY too many mistakes, and getting that one drug totally WRONG -- that could seriously harm a patient if they didn't know anything about drugs. A lot of patients just blindly trust that their doctor is prescribing the RIGHT drug. A patient who doesn't know anything about drugs wouldn't know to check the label at the pharmacy, and they could take a drug that *might* kill them.

Atenolol, by the way, is a blood pressure drug. I already take a different blood pressure drug. So if I doubled up, it really could have harmed me. That is unacceptable.

I know the doctor's office has a Web site, so I'm going to see if there's contact information for an office manager or someone. I hesitate to write directly to Awesome Doctor, because I'm sure he has an office manager for a reason. So I should follow that chain of command. But I am pissed right now. She got everything about my prescriptions wrong. Everything.

I am sort of curious if there will be 2 inhalers waiting for me after work. (I'm sure there won't be, because insurance wouldn't pay for that, and CVS will straighten it out -- I now have more faith in them than in the dipshit receptionist.) But it would be funny if there were 2 inhalers.

Tep, you should absolutely call and complain to her supervisor. Is this person new, or very young? Because it sounds like a series of first-job-out-of-college mistakes to me (and also like she should start looking for her second-job-out-of-college-maybe-something-not-in-a-doctor's-office).

Call the office manager. If they don't have a number, call the office and ask for the office manager.

I totally agree, Steph. The office manager needs to know this has happened. And thank goodness for an efficient CVS pharmacy. They get a bad rap around here, it's nice that they had your back.

Aims, that really sucks. And I, for one, don't want you to shut up.

Steph, damn. That's some fucked up shit.

I don't get much of a fever with strep anymore, unless I let it go. Luckily (?) , I know what it feels like so get the test ans if I want it -- it always coms back positive

I'm glad you can get what you need. What I need is to not have to pay for a test I know is unnecessary (see also mono test).

Tep, you should absolutely call and complain to her supervisor. Is this person new, or very young?

I don't know for sure if she's new, but she sounded young (which doesn't necessarily mean that she is).

Call the office manager. If they don't have a number, call the office and ask for the office manager.

I'm going to have to call, because the Web site has no information on the office staff. Perhaps this is why.

Admittedly, in the past when I've called for a refill, sometimes I would tell them the generic name, when it was in the record under the brand name. But that, to me, is a failure of their software -- both names should be in there.

And if that had been the only problem, I wouldn't complain (though they need to sort that out).

Tep, that is very scary that the receptionist was so incompetant.

Aims, sorry that you are having a crappy time with that class.

Taking a belt sander to my face would be counterproductive in the long run, right?

Taking a belt sander to my face would be counterproductive in the long run, right?

Not your pretty face!