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.”
It’s All Marketing
[Patient]: “You guys got that BPH something-or-another.”
[Rph]: “Umm … you’re gonna need to be a bit more specific.”
[Pt]: “I don’t know—it’s that OTC medication for people who have high blood pressure.”
[Rph]: “You mean Coricidin HBP?”
[Pt]: “That sounds right. It’s the only one people with blood pressure can use right?”
[Rph]: “Well, everyone has blood pressure. If you don’t, that’s a problem colloquially known as ‘being dead’.”
[Pt]: “Okay, high blood pressure. That BPH whatever-you-called-it is for people with high blood pressure, right?”
[Rph]: “HBP! Coricidin HBP. It stands for ‘High Blood Pressure’. BPH means ‘Benign Prostate Hyperplasia’—which, oddly enough, is also a precaution for use of pseudoephedrine or phenylephrine.”
[Pt]: “Alright, well do you have it?”
[Rph]: “Maybe they should call it Coricidin HBP/BPH. It’s all marketing anyway.”
[Pt]: “Marianne! Focus! Do you guys have it out here?”
[Rph]: “I think there’s 3 or 4 different formulations, but, yeah, they should be out there in the Cough & Cold section.”
[Pt]: “Which one’s the best? Because I have high blood pressure.”
[Rph]: “Yeah, I sussed that out already. Just look at the ‘Active Ingredients’ sections on the back of the box and match the ingredients’ uses to your symptoms.”
[Pt]: “So any of them will be fine?”
[Rph]: “Or you can be a savvy shopper and not fall for their silly marketing ploys. Save yourself some money by getting generic products.”
[Pt]: “Yeah, but I need the BPH … HPB … whatever those letters are, since I have high blood pressure.”