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.”
Open-Ended Questions
[Tech]: “Whoops. Almost forgot to ask. Is your date of birth 04/07/1959?”
[Patient]: “Yup.”
[Tech]: “Alright, here you go. Have a great day.”
[Tech 2]: “Umm . . . a couple things, Bernard.”
[Tech]: “Oh no. What’d I do wrong this time?”
[Tech 2]: “It’s your first week. Pharmacy has a steep learning curve. We’re all still learning something new every day.”
[Tech]: “So what’d I do, Kay?”
[Tech 2]: “First off, we need to make sure to verify their date of birth right off the bat. Along with their name, of course.”
[Tech]: “Yeah, sorry. I forgot to get the DOB until the end there. But he verified it.”
[Tech 2]: “Weeeell . . . not really.”
[Tech]: “Yeah he did! I asked if his DOB was—you know—whatever it was. And he said ‘Yes.’”
[Tech 2]: “We need to be asking open-ended questions, though.”
[Tech]: “What’s that?”
[Tech 2]: “Let’s give you an example.” “Hey, Marianne. Do you live at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave?”
[Rph]: “Yes.”
[Tech 2]: “Interesting. So what color’s your house?”
[Rph:] “It’s a white house.”
[Tech 2]: “Thanks, Marianne.”
[Rph:] “Always a pleasure.”
[Tech 2]: “See the difference between those two questions, Bernard?”
[Tech]: “I think Marianne just claimed she’s the President.”
[Tech 2]: “Exactly! When you ask a ‘Yes/No’ question, people often just say ‘Yes’ without thinking, or frankly, without even hearing what you asked. You gotta make them specifically tell you what you need to know.”
[Rph:] “My house really is white, though.”
[Tech 2]: “I’ve seen it. It’s more of a gray.”
[Rph:] “Power-washing is expensive.”
[Tech 2]: “Know what else can be expensive? A lawsuit, if we give someone the wrong meds because we didn’t ask the simple open-ended question: ‘What’s your date of birth?’ Understand?”
[Tech]: “I understand ‘Understand?’ isn’t an open-ended question!”
[Tech 2]: . . .