![](\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/7\/7a\/Rx_symbol.png\")
I’m used to giving tours to friends and visitors at work, but it’s not often that *I* get to take a tour of a friend’s workplace. Last Friday, I was treated to a behind-the-scenes view of a Kaiser pharmacy (thanks, Jim!). <\/p>\nI’m used to giving tours to friends and visitors at work, but it’s not often that *I* get to take a tour of a friend’s workplace. Last Friday, I was treated to a behind-the-scenes view of a Kaiser pharmacy (thanks, Jim!). <\/p>\n
I spotted Jim as soon as I entered the waiting room. He was not only a head taller than everyone else working behind the counter, but he also was the only one not wearing a white lab coat. I figured his brown jacket was a clever disguise to allow him to mix unnoticed with patients in the lobby, but later learned instead that it is his way of protesting the pharmacy thermostat’s 60 F setting. It’s too cold without a jacket, and too cumbersome and restrictive to wear a lab coat on top of his jacket. But the drugs are comfortable!<\/p>\n
Most of the other people milling around were “technicians”, who fill the prescriptions via an efficiently organized assembly line. A pharmacist has to check and confirm the result of each order, and is also required whenever the really good drugs are requested, which are in a locked cabinet. They are also the ones who answer patient questions about the drug, how often to take it, what its side effects may be, etc. A technician needs only a high school diploma, while a pharmacist must press on through college and grad school and pick up a PharmD before he or she can be hired. Even without the brown jacket, Jim’s air of authority and advanced degree-ness would have marked him as the pharmacist in charge!<\/p>\n
I was fascinated to learn that modern pharmacies also include a station where the pharmacist (and sometimes even technicians) can mix their own drugs. This comes up when a patient needs something in a non-standard strength, or to convert a solid drug into a liquid form for a child to consume. The station contains a rack of different materials for mixing, including coal tar (yes, actual tar; it’s good for skin conditions<\/a>), testosterone, and magic mouthwash<\/a> (a “mucositis agent”). Now I’m wondering if Pharmacy School includes labs in which you’re tested on your ability to accurately mix new concoctions (or maybe that’s taken care of in a chemistry prerequisite). This hands-on, custom-made aspect of the job (apparently only rarely called for here) intrigues me. But no doubt in a day-to-day setting one would much prefer to be able to dole out a fixed number of pre-packed pills when possible!<\/p>\n It’s too bad that I don’t have Kaiser health insurance now, so I’m unlikely to be back at this particular pharmacy with any regularity… and just when I’d figured out where they stash the doughnuts, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m used to giving tours to friends and visitors at work, but it’s not often that *I* get to take a tour of a friend’s workplace. Last Friday, I was treated to a behind-the-scenes view of a Kaiser pharmacy (thanks, Jim!). I spotted Jim as soon as I entered the waiting room. He was not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1578,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions\/1578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wkiri.com\/today\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}