this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026

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Mildly Infuriating

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142

The way my fuck-ass pharmacist makes up the remaining pills in my bastarding prescription (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 weeks ago by 58008@lemmy.world to c/mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world

65 comments fedilink hide all child comments

"How do we ensure our patient drops and loses ~80% of his pills and that he slices the absolute fuck out of his fingers in the process?"

They're locking my mental health goals behind a fidgety Saw trap built from scissors and miserliness.

I've had boxes where there were several single pills snipped from their blister packs rattling around in them. These pills in particular are tiny, like you can't even feel them in your mouth when you take them, but they expect me to be able to finesse one out of a single blister with at least 3 extremely sharp and piercing corners on it 😒

If you're a pharmacist and you do this, please go ahead and take the pills yourself, you clearly need 'em more than I do, ya sick fuck.

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[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 177 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

Uh, former pharmacy tech here... I don't know what you want us to do. If I have a strip of, say, 10 pills, 2 rows of 5, and I get a prescription for 6 pills, that means I'm gonna have a strip of 4 pills left over. If I get a prescription for 9 pills, there's gonna be a single one left over. Do you want these pills to just be thrown away? If they don't have enough pills on hand to make your prescription with the full sheet, would you rather they delay your prescription so they can order some nicer looking ones?

I get that it can be frustrating dealing with those blister packs, but freaking out at the pharmacist/ tech that a. did not put the pills in a blister pack and b. doesn't have any option but to dispense medication on hand, seems pretty misplaced. Like, I wouldn't think something was wrong with the Walmart cashier for selling me a pair of scissors in security packaging.

[–] kungen@feddit.nu 41 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Tbh, a pharmacist shouldn't really do anything with the actual medication other than dispensing it correctly. In Sweden, every package is individual; the pharmacist should never be opening them nor touching the blisters in normal cases. It significantly reduces risks for the patient and ensures traceability.

It is a bit less efficient though, as pharmacies need to stock up different qualities of the same dosages: Stilnoct(zolpidem) 10mg for example has two different packages: 14 tablets, or 28 tablets. If you have a prescription for 28 tablets, you can't buy two 14-tablet packages. And if you were to have a 14 prescription, you can't buy the 28 and ask the pharmacist to throw away the other blister. But I think it's a worthy tradeoff to eliminate the majority of human mistakes.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 16 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

In Sweden, every package is individual;

Same here in Denmark.
The only place I've ever seen pills given out of the package is at the vet and in hospitals or by a doctor, and it's for obvious reasons dictated by circumstances.

If we need 10 of some pill, they come in boxes of 10. I have no idea wtf is going on with splitting up packages to get 20?

PS: The example with the vet was worm treatment, those pills were in individual blisters, and you can get only one at a time I think due to EU regulation. It was then put in a package made specifically for that. And there were no sharp edges.

We used to get 3 at a time, to administer as needed, but apparently we aren't allowed to get more than 1 at a time now.
Also the price has trippled to buy 1 compared to what 3 used to cost. So a 10x price jump!!!

[–] orclev@lemmy.world 13 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

This is interesting. Do all pills come in blister packs in Denmark? Over in the US it's actually somewhat rare for prescription medication to come in blister packs. Typically over the counter prepackaged medication will come in blister packs, but prescriptions are almost always unpackaged pills in a bottle. The pharmacist counts out the number of pills and puts them in the bottle as well as attaching its label to match the prescription. Prescriptions are typically written based on pills per day and the number of days to either take the medication or else for the prescription to cover. E.G. the doctor makes out a prescription like "take one pill twice a day for 60 days", and then the pharmacist will give you a bottle with 120 pills in it.

[–] MarieMarion@literature.cafe 10 points 3 weeks ago

France: never seen a bottle IRL. Used to be blister packs, and if you needed 21 pills but they came in packs of 20, you got 19 too many and they lived forever in your medicine cabinet.

Now pharmacists are allowed to open packs of antibiotic pills and only dispense the exact number you need, and pics like the OP can happen. Most pharmacies don't do it though.

[–] BorgDrone@feddit.nl 8 points 3 weeks ago

Here in the Netherlands I’ve never had any medication that wasn’t in blister packs. They are always full boxes. Boxes have anti-tamper seals and a unique serial number that the pharmacist has to scan when issuing (to prevent fake medication). Pills are individually packaged to prevent contamination.

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Almost everything is blister packages, which I personally find a bit annoying.
We can't even get normal pain killers without them being in blister packages, and we can only buy limited amounts to prevent teen suicide attempts by painkillers.
That part however I'm OK with, because allegedly it's supposed to actually work. 👍 😀

[–] Mirshe@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Honestly, I can see that. A lot of suicides are spur-of-the-moment, and the more a person has to actively work at it, the less likely they are to actually follow through on the attempt. Even just those couple seconds of working at it to get a whole box of blister packs open could be enough for a lot of people to stop, think, and say "actually wait".

[–] Buffalox@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Yes but more than that, the packages are also too small for use for suicide attempts. So you need to stack up with a few packages first too.
It's a minor inconvenience, but I'm OK with it, because they claim it is actually working.
I never really thought so much about the time it takes to squeeze out the number of pills it takes to work. Which absolutely may be a factor too.

[–] kungen@feddit.nu 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

There are bottles as well, but it's not as common. And they're factory-produced bottles that are tamper resistant -- not like those orange ones in the US. So it's basically the same safety as blisters, other than its easier for the patient to spill.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think most of the groundwork for this situation is from EU Directive 2001/83/EC. Medical products need to have a lot of information provided, and it just gets simpler to have boxes with blisters to meet all the requirements, and gives safety at the same time.

I can't imagine how hectic it must be for pharmacy techs in the US. Despite requiring 5 years of school to be a pharmacist here, the job is basically being a glorified cashier... Unless the person has any questions, you simply check their ID, check in the national registry that enough time has passed since their last collection (particularly if it's a controlled substance), collect a package from the shelf, print out a label to put on the box (containing their name, doctor, dosage, instructions), scan the label and package, collect payment, and that's it.

[–] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 5 points 3 weeks ago

A few years ago Germany started to ensure that blisters are not repackaged, too.

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's so weird to me as here we just get one box of pills and done 🤷

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Here we usually do too, unless the doctor prescribes a weird number for some reason.

[–] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My doctor doesn't even prescribe an amount. I just get whatever amount the pharmacy feels like. I've gotten a box with 30 pills (one daily so enough for a month), box with 60, back to 30, and the last time they gave me a box with 100. I'm not complaining, less refills so less hassle but it kinda makes me wonder how they decide the amount lol

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Here the doctor decides, thank God. It means she can prescribe months worth of meds and I only pay 5 Euro. I always have to pay those 5 Euros for any amount (unless it's asthma meds, those are free).

[–] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

I think I pay a flat rate as well, not so sure tho haven't checked in a while. But just like you it's a couple of euro so it's not that bad of a screwover I suppose

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 17 points 3 weeks ago

People bitch about everything they don't understand. Some meds are too fragile to just put into a plastic bottle, or exposed to air.

[–] rollerbang@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

I hear you. They should be on a roll, like film 😁

[–] myplacedk@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If I have a strip of, say, 10 pills, 2 rows of 5, and I get a prescription for 6 pills, that means I'm gonna have a strip of 4 pills left over. If I get a prescription for 9 pills, there's gonna be a single one left over. Do you want these pills to just be thrown away?

Order of 6 pills - give a 3x2, you now have a 2x2.

Order 9 pills - give the 2x2 and a 1x5, you now have a 1x5.

I see your problem, but I don't see how that can turn into "a 10x1, a 4x1, a 2x1 and another 2x1" as your best choice. That looks like he got the left-over-pile after a day of ever order getting from a new pack.

Honestly, I don't know why you even have to open a package. I've never seen that, and I've been in some long pharmacy queues. Never been to US though.

If I need exactly 10 pills, I get a box with 10 pills, packed in a factory like any other box of pills.

[–] papalonian@lemmy.world 29 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

That looks like he got the left-over-pile after a day of ever order getting from a new pack.

I'm saying that's exactly what happened.

Never been to US though.

Things are done very, very differently here than most places. Blister packs are pretty uncommon, as are "per-patient" packages.

We rarely get bottles of 14, 30, 90 or whatever to give to the patient. It's usually a giant "stock bottle" of like, 100, 500, 1000 pills that get counted out according to the prescription.

Your example of using the leftover from one script to the next works if you're a single person in a small-ish pharmacy and it's an uncommon drug, but when you're one of 4 techs in a shitty retail pharmacy, you're not going to ask every other person if they have a 2x2 strip of this med in their pile of go-backs, or spend time min-maxing the most efficient way to get the most pills in the least amount of strips. You're gonna fill the thing as quickly as possible, because the medicine is what's important, and you're not gonna hold the backlog of prescriptions up because someone wants the nice complete pack of 10 and not the leftovers that are bound to pile up.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 4 points 3 weeks ago

a shitty retail pharmacy

AKA pretty much every pharmacy these days, since these pharmacy companies are large enough to own the insurance companies.

What a fucking disgusting mess the US medical industry is.

[–] myplacedk@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

You are saying what I'm saying, and what everybody else is saying. But with a tone of defending it, as if it can't be better.

Don't give any customer your "trash pile". Either take the time to do it right, or throw away the trashpile, or accept that customers feels like people are saying they feel.

Don't make up excuses, the things you say you won't do is not what is needed.

Things are done very, very differently here than most places.

Maybe that's the problem. Everybody else has figured it out. I know you can't change that, but lots of people could if they wanted to.

[–] ChexMax@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Why doesn't the customer just take the couple of minutes at the beginning of the month to dispense the blister packs into a daily pill box organizer?

Or just take a pair of scissors and round off the edges?

Just saying the problem is as easily or more easily solved by the customer as it is by the tech.

Certainly no medication should just be thrown out because the packaging is inconvenient. Making the techs take more time just means making the meds more expensive than they already are.

Obviously the real answer is to overhaul the whole system, but we live under an oligarchy here. Individual people have no power past barely the local level.

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[–] WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org 4 points 2 weeks ago

The app seems ungrateful. Stop giving them the pills.

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 25 points 3 weeks ago

This is likely the fault of the pill manufacturer who the pharmacy is at the mercy of.

[–] diemartin@sh.itjust.works 17 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Here in my country (at least public healthcare, which my mother and I use, and the private provider my grandfather uses), pharmacists give you enough full boxes to cover the month, even for controlled substances, even if that means giving a few extra pills.

As an example, I take 1 ½ Risperidone pills daily, which makes 45 pills a month. Boxes are 20 pills each, so they give me 3 boxes (60 pills). The leftovers helped me a couple of times I was sick or otherwise couldn't get the refill on time.

There was only one time where they gave me two boxes and a blister (50 pills), but it was still a full blister.

[–] XM34@feddit.org 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Same here in Germany. I'm pretty sure, cutting and repackaging pills would be illegal.

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 3 points 2 weeks ago

Here in Sweden, I'm pretty sure pills are only distributed individually like that in controlled settings (elder care facilities, etc). Otherwise you just get the whole box.

[–] JennyLaFae@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 weeks ago

I've had insurance only cover exactly 30 days once per calendar month. Not much of a problem until you're trying to pick up your refill on the 31st.

[–] SirMaple__@lemmy.ca 15 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Blister packs should be illegal. Creates waste. All pills should come in recyclable plastic bottles.

[–] Mpatch@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Many medicines need a hermetically sealed environment for storage. They break down from moisture in the air, being exposed to oxygen for a prolonged time can cause the active ingredients to break down. Even some of the binders and stabilizers can grow bacteria and mold.

Like bro this person can't figure out that we have tools for cutting things open? Scissors? Nail clippers? Small blade? Hobby knife?

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[–] FriendOfDeSoto@startrek.website 14 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

In Japan, this is the norm. They'll throw each drug in its own zip lock bag but piecemeal like that is all you'll get. And people grow really old over here.

I don't find this mildly infuriating. I think this is a responsible way to deal with a precious resource.

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[–] poweruser@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 3 weeks ago

I just wanted to say, I enjoy your writing style. You very vividly illustrated your emotions

[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

What's mildly infuriating is this post. How do you think they make these prescriptions? Do you ever consider how other people do their jobs before you go moaning? You're a fucking Karen.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

"they may provide a shitty product, but have you considered their feelings?"

You're allowed to be pissed off, even when other people do their best.

[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Pharmacist does not make the product or how it's manufactured or distributed, dum dum.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

And yet it's still ok to be pissed off at the situation.

Is the problem that he insulted the pharmacist in his rant?

[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

They're clearly pissed at the pharmacists. Did we read the same rant? Why insult them at tall? Twice. Once in the title, once in the rant. It's not okay to take out your anger at people who can't change the situation for you.

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[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago

I'll raise you the time I decided to be menace and put a blister pack back in the pyxis like this:

(to be clear, this was neither a high alert med nor a narcotic)

[–] Hazy@aussie.zone 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If you're bitching about this maybe keep working on the mental health and negative thought patterns

[–] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

This is a perfectly valid complaint and diminishing it is wild. Imagine if your health was locked behind an infuriating puzzle every day. Ffs have some empathy.

[–] Bazoogle@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I agree it's a valid complaint, as in it's expected to be complained about. It's not so valid to expect the pharmacy to actually change anything. There are a million and one solutions to their problem. If it's just the sharp edges, they can clip those off with some rounded nail clippers. If they have trouble getting them out of the pack, there are any number of tools/solutions to get the pill out to make it easier.

I think this post is valid as mildly infuriating, since it's not that big of a deal. But calling it an infuriating puzzle is pretty wild. Idk what puzzles you are doing

[–] JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago

Some mornings I barely have the patience to split my pill in half, if I am motivated enough to even take it. If I had to deal with this crap every morning I would be exasperated too

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