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.”
Salt Forms
[Rph]: “Hi there. What can I do for you?”
[Patient]: “Yeah, Marianne, I just got a question about this medication here. This Rosuvastatin Calcium.”
[Rph]: “Alright. Hit me with it.”
[Pt]: “My doctor told me to take calcium. Since this already got calcium in it, do I still need to take more?”
[Rph]: “Absolutely, yes. When they say calcium there, it’s what they call the salt form. Just means calcium is within the chemical structure. But you aren’t going to be absorbing any calcium from it.”
[Pt]: “You sure?”
[Rph]: “I’m positive.”
[Pt]: “I don’t want to overdose on calcium.”
[Rph]: “Alright. Look at it this way—how much calcium did your doctor tell you to take?”
[Pt]: “He told me to take 500 mg in the morning and another 500 mg with dinner.”
[Rph]: “And what strength of Rosuvastatin is that?”
[Pt]: “I think it’s—let’s see—it’s 20 mg.”
[Rph]: “So let’s pretend like 100% of that 20 mg is calcium, and none of it’s Rosuvastatin, okay? That’d still only be 20 mg out of the 1,000 mg you’re supposed to take.”
[Pt]: “You’re saying I need to take another 980 mg of calcium every day?”
[Rph]: “No! How the—how’d you get that from what I just said?”
[Pt]: “Because 1,000 minus 20 is 980.”
[Rph]: “Listen … no! The amount of calcium in a Rosuvastatin tablet compared to the 1,000 mg you need to take is like … it’d be like pissing in the ocean and thinking you’re causing a flood in Hawaii.”
[Pt]: “I don’t know what that means.”
[Rph]: “It means keep taking the calcium like your doctor recommended!”