Ever been shorted amount of rx meds?

happycat · ‎09-18-2010

Have you ever gotten a rx and counted to find you were short? I picked up my rx yesterday at walgreens. The girl at the pharmacy told me that they had to use two different manufacturers to fill the rx and some of them were a different color. Looked this morning, one was bright blue the rest yellow. Don't know why, but I counted them. 24 yellow and 1 bright blue and the qty is 30.

This is the second time this has happened at this pharmacy. The first time was for migraine meds, and I was one short and I didn't say anything.

Has this ever happened to any of you?

Krimpette · ‎03-09-2010

When I get a scrip that is factory sealed, I don't count. But if it's pharmacy counted, I re-count as soon as I get home. I use CVS and have never (yet!) been shorted (or over).

hatetoiron · ‎12-31-2013

I have had this happen a few times but because it was only 1 or 2 pills I just forgot about it.

happycat · ‎09-18-2010

I'm glad you haven't been. I really don't think I was before switching to wal greens.

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

On behalf of the techs, I apologize to you.

It's crazy how busy you get sometimes and when you have to change manufacturers, which is a huge pain in the butt, you have to switch it in the computer and then you get interrupted and mistakes happen. And this is all done by hand. Most chain pharmacies are not busy enough to have an automatic counter.

Pharmacists only check that the correct medication is being dispensed. They do not recount the tech's pill count.

If you let the pharmacy know, they usually will make up the difference if it's not a controlled substance. If it keeps happening, we had a frequent complainer, the pharmacist may start recounting that one person's prescription each time they fill it. That is for the pharmacist's piece of mind that he doesn't have a rogue tech and also that a customer is not scamming the pharmacy (and I know you're not).

You can also feel free to count the pills before you leave the pharmacy (go inside not at the drive thru) and make sure you have them all before you leave. If you are shorted at the counter, it's real easy to know which tech to talk to since odds are the prescription was probably filled that day and they are right there.

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

Back in the day I was a pharmacy tech. It's easy to make a mistake counting because many times you get interrupted with something or other.

I remember if it happened, people would come back in and we'd just give them the pills they were missing. It was never a lot but still, even if it's only a couple of pills, that can be very costly.

I never count but I just told DH I'm going to start because many times, although he takes all his pills once daily, sometimes I have more left of some than others so something isn't right.

janeec · ‎02-17-2013

This has happened to me a few times. Each time I called the pharmacy They have been willing to correct their mistake and give me the missing pills. I offer to bring them right back so they can check themselves. The pills are to be counted twice before being placed in the bottle but some skip that step, especially if in a hurry.

In today's world it should be reported to the pharmacist because there are those who may purposely short-change the prescriptions to keep for themselves. It depends upon the medication.

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

One more thing, if it is a controlled substance, I know at Walgreens we double counted, circled the quantity AND put our initials on the label verifying that that's how many were in there. So if you see initials on the label, you can make it easy for the pharmacy to see who they need to talk to.

queendiva · ‎03-12-2010

I don't think I have been shorted, but last year I did receive a lower dose of my med than what was prescribed. I thought the pills looked a little different, but did not check further. When it was time for a refill, it was the head pharmacist who noticed. He apologized profusely, refunded my purchase price on the script that was wrong and picked up the tab on the correctly dosed refill. Although I was alarmed and quite unhappy about such an error, I think I was compensated fairly for the pharm's error. The script was not very costly and the error did not put my health or life in jeopardy.

I now check very carefully.

happycat · ‎09-18-2010

@Laura14wrote:
One more thing, if it is a controlled substance, I know at Walgreens we double counted, circled the quantity AND put our initials on the label verifying that that's how many were in there. So if you see initials on the label, you can make it easy for the pharmacy to see who they need to talk to.

It wasn't a controlled substance either time.

And they were very busy yesterday. I had actually gone there early in the afternoon and there were only a few parking spots open. I left, ran a few errands and then went back.

But @Laura14, I had thought that they had a counter, not sure how to explain it, but a container that would count out the pills so they didn't have to do it manually? Do they not have something like that?

thanks