Today is Wednesday, so it would have been on Monday I went to counsel a patient on a blood thinner he needed to take. This was a unique patient because he was previously on this medication and his blood got too thin which lead to a gastric hemorrhage (stomach bleed). However, he needs to continue on this medication because he had atrial fibrillation (rapid heart flutter) which predisposed him (certainly due to his age:83) to strokes.
Anyway, he was really worried and nervous about this drug because he really didn't want to bleed again. So I spent about 30 minutes (normal is 10 minutes) talking to him about the importance of this drug and even if there is an increase chance of bleeding, there is a decrease chance of stroke (and please take into consideration its a lot easier to reverse a bleed than to reverse a stroke). He was still hesitant as I left.
I came back on Tuesday (when counseling, we only see a patient once, so this is definitely an exception.) I brought 4 different articles for him to read (ranging from 4 pages to 25 pages) which is well beyond the typical 3 pages of literature we hand out. He was really happy with this and excited to go over some new reading material.
Today, I came by to check on him for a final time (3 days in a row is absolutely unheard of in the world of pharmacy). At this point in time, he began to remind me of my grandfather, and I actually think I started looking at him as if he was. Then finally he told me:
"I was hesitant at first about taking this medication, but after talking to you, I will definitely take it. You had great points why to take this, and I will risk the chance of a bleed to prevent a stroke. You know, you should be a salesman for this drug, you definitely convinced me."
"No sir, a not a salesperson because I don't get paid more if more people take this medication. Your safety is enough of a payment for me." (Yeah, I really did go corny here.)
Then his eyes started to water, looked up to me, and just said "Thanks."
I actually began to tear up as well. I honestly felt that helping this person out was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had in my life. I actually got a 'high' off of pharmacy. Now how many people can say that about their job? :)
On a differ
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