Pharmacist Day 2025 is on Sunday, January 12, 2025: What does a pharmacist do all day?

Sunday, January 12, 2025 is Pharmacist Day 2025.

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Pharmacist Day implores us to take the time to think about everyone who act as pharmacy technician. They merely see us when we’re sick having a cold, cough, measles and have a hangover… or when we’ve exhaust tooth paste. These poor folks allow us to to feel good, and just ever see us at our worst. Take the time to go to a pharmacy having a smile in your face along with a healthy bounce for your step – we’re sure you’ll surprise them!

Commuinity pharmacists manage the pharmacy that distributes drugs to patients. They counselthe patients about how to use the drugs and answer questions about the drugs. They surpervise the stocks of drugs to be sure that they have all the proper drugs and that they are up to date. Often they consult with physicians about the drugs that the patients have been prescribed.

Hospital pharmacists do the same, except they are like to have to handle much more powerful drugs that are being used with acutely sick patients. They supervise the preparation of all kinds of specially prepared drugs and liquids used for IVs and radioactive materials used in nuclear medicine.

Clinical pharmacists spent most of their time consulting with physicians about patients who are extremely sick with multiple diseases that require the use of several drugs at once. The physicians often do not have a very good understanding of how the drugs will interact, so they talk it over with the clinical pharmacist before they make their decisions. One pharmacist I know spends her entire work day in team meetings with doctors reviewing how the intensive care patients are being treated.

Some pharmacists work for drug companies discovering and testing new drugs.

Some pharmacists are drug sales representatives who go around and teach doctors about new drugs and then take orders for the drug supplies - this is a complciated task because most hospitals have only a restricted list of drugs that doctors can use. If a new drug comes along, then the pharmacist has to convince the hospital board that the new drug is an improvement and gives more benefit for the money.

Pharmacist??

I am not a pharmacist . . . but check out these websites . . .

Sick days will vary based on the employer. Some companies make you accumulate sick days. . . like a day a month. Some give you a week and then you add on days for every period or year you work. Sick days can sometimes be negotiated, but I would recommend looking at number of vacation days rather than sick days. Where I work, you can't negotiate sick days as part of salary negotiations, but you can vacation days.

I hope this helps!

Good luck!

Should a pharmacist question a prescription that appears to be an over-prescribed amount?

It is not the pharmacists fault. I assume you are in The United States or Canada. If either nation, for the most part, if a doctor prescribes something it will be filled and a pharmacist will probably not say anything (especially in the US). Even if refills are being used too quickly and if the doctor keeps approving more then the pharmacist will fill it. A lot of that has to do with the fact that it is not uncommon for a person to truly actually need a large dose of a medication (but weight loss meds, that is a little more odd). But typically if a large dose is medically needed then the initial prescription will be higher. So a person with narcolepsy will probably need a higher dose of Adderall (amphetamine) or Ritalin (methylphenidate) compared to a person with ADD. So the doctor might have known that this individual was increasing the dose (with his permission) and that is why refills were allowed. And sometimes what a prescription label says and what the doctor really told the patient to do is different (typically so insurance will pay). I am not completely sure if you are saying the doctors prescription said 90 pills or it was three different fills of 30 pills or both?

I once was going to have an MRI (and I was scared and I am claustrophobic) so my doctor prescribed 1/2 tablet of a 2mg Lorazepam tablet to take before the MRI. But he wrote for 4 tabs (eight times more). So things like that do happen- but my little incidence was minor comparatively and he later told me he wanted me to have more because I would likely have more tests. But the pharmacist still said nothing- but my pharmacist knew me well and we were on a first name basis. And this is Canada where most of the time the pharmacist will personally give the medication to the patient and ask if the patient has questions- so they are more involved.

But generally pharmacists might call a doctor and make sure what a written prescription said is correct (some times there are forgeries and often the pharmacist has no clue what the Rx says). A Pharmacist might also call a doctor to inform him of the large use of refills- but if the doctor says yes then the pharmacist will dispense.

In some countries, like the UK, a pharmacist CAN refuse to fill a prescription if a dose or # of pills is way out of normal range. For example, I was studying under a psychiatrist in London and (very ironically) he prescribed Lorazepam to a very anxious patient. It was for three weeks and meant to be a stopgap solution because the patient was falling apart because of a death in his family. But the patient was already on Lorazepam, at a modest dose, so the doctor prescribed an usually large dose (a large dose was needed because the patient was tolerant to the drug so a large dose was needed to calm him down) but only for three weeks. And this truly was medically justified and reasonable. The pharmacist, to my surprise, called the doctor and refused to fill it because it was such a high dose. In the end the doctor "changed" the Rx so the same number of pills, at the same dose, would be given but the actual prescription was for a longer time and with a fewer daily doses- but the understanding was for the patient to keep with the dose the doctor wanted.

Anyways from what you said the DOCTOR is the one who is negligent and probably committed malpractice. He should have scene your friend several times. And any half way decent doctor would not have allowed that much medication to be prescribed and good doctors ask patients taking weight loss meds to come back to the doctors office so that the progress could be measured. You did not mention the name of the drug (it obviously was not an amphetamine or Methylphenidate drug-ie Ritalin) but there are several stimulants that are close relatives of amphetamine. But at four times the dose it might be a lot like amphetamine.

Perhaps there is some decent explanation (but the only ones I can think of put the doctor at fault). If you do consider a lawsuit then I would imagine you would go after the doctor because it certainly sounds like he was either committing malpractice because of the amount prescribed and not having your friend come back for a check up. And assuming the drugs are stimulant weight loss drugs (most of them are US controlled substances at schedule IV or II but schedule II does not allow refills and is where amphetamine is) then he could be guilty of supplying an addict (no offense to your friend and this might not be the case at all), a major crime for all but two drugs, Methadone and Suboxone for opioid addiction management or for detox with drugs like Valium and Phenobarbital for alcoholics, benzodiazepine, or barbiturate addicts.

So good luck. If you have some questions feel free to ask. I have worked with several doctors, at a US pharmacy, have and lived in several nations and know how pharmacy is practiced in many countries.