Rx #0000004 : Vaccine Air Bubbles

URxProbablyRxight

Meds & Counsel without Patience for Patients
Ever heard of Dick’s Last Resort? Never been to the restaurant myself, but I love the concept. It’s like the court jester in medieval times being able to tell the King the harsh truth since everything he said was in—you guessed it—jest. Why has no pharmacy taken up this business practice? If patients expect harsh but fair truth from the pharmacy team, they’ll accept it readily.
Welcome to URxProbablyRxight. The pharmacy of the future where we provide “Meds & Counsel without Patience for Patients.”

Vaccine Air Bubbles

[Intern]: “Man, Marianna, felt like I was pushing forever with that Twinrix. Didn’t think the full mL would even fit in the dude’s arm.”
[Rph]: “Yeah, I have that same thought every time I give one. Which is pretty rare, so I always forget it has a full mL until I’m removing the air bubble.”
[Intern]: “Wait . . . You remove the air bubble?”
[Rph]: “Yeah, of course. What, you don’t?”
[Intern]: “They told us not to.”
[Rph]: “Who’s they?”
[Intern]: “School. I don’t know . . . CDC, I guess.”
[Rph]: “Come on, Owen! I mean, do you add an air bubble when you draw up a Moderna dose?”
[Intern]: “If we did, we’d get a lot more 11th doses.”
[Rph]: “You do realize you’d be the one giving them, right?”
[Intern]: “Oh yeah. Good point.”
[Rph]: “So do you?”
[Intern]: “Do I what?”
[Rph]: “Add an air bubble when you draw up a COVID shot.”
[Intern]: “Oh, no. Course not.”
[Rph]: “Than why would you leave one in a prefilled syringe?”
[Intern]: “I don’t know. That’s just what they taught us.”
[Rph]: . . .

. . . [As a pharmacist at URxProbablyRxight, you know the “harsh but fair truth” rule applies as much to chatting with patients as it does communicating with fellow employees. With that in mind, how do you respond to your intern?

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