ever had your pharmacy give you the wrong Rx?

[Deleted]

I take Trazodone most nights to help with insomnia.

I just realized my lastest pharmacy refill is for Tramadol which appears to be a very different drug and an error.

I didn't take any before catching it.

Granted I signed & should have checked before leaving the pharmacy but I didn't. It was the same usual cost, it's not a new Rx and in fact, I entered the refill request on their pharmacy website with the correct Rx #.    They gave me a different drug on a different Rx #.

Mistakes happen, I get it.  But this is a little unsettling.

[jayhawkbecca]

Yes. I didn't take it either before I realized but did pay and get home. I brought it back and they were apologetic. I figure they are just human.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using proboards

[Deleted]

That would freak me out, too. Glad you caught it, and a good psa for the rest of us. I never even check the drug before I leave, I should start doing that.

Unless it was something good, like a xanax and then I might just sneak away....

[sillygoosegirl]

Not personally, but I know it's a big problem. It's super rare by percentage of the time it happens, but there are a lot of prescriptions being filled and the results can be devastating.

This is why in most hospitals they barcode the patients and the medications, and scan both before administering to make sure what is being given matches what is in the chart, on top of the traditional means of making sure they have the right patient, med, time, etc. Nothing against medical professionals, but human error will always exist. Likewise, in anesthesiology, the tubes are all different sizes and shapes so they literally cannot connect in most wrong configurations, and this is the primary reason that asethesiology is so much safer now that it was when our parents were young.

Unfortunately, these sort of measures mostly haven't made it to retail pharmacies yet.

[abcdefu]

yes, this has happened to me! the frightening part was that my medication was supposed to be in packets of powder that dissolve in water. I was handed a pill bottle. I told the pharm tech that I didn't think the prescription was right because it was pills instead of packets of powder. She told me that the medication was now in pill form. Turns out it was a mistake and I took medicine that is given to cancer patients. I didn't know until my gut told me to google to double check.

I went back to the pharmacy and they apologized. When the pharmacist asked the tech how this happened she said they were really busy. I wrote to the pharmacy headquarters and they were very apologetic.

[Deleted]

No, but they once gave my mom her medicine and an extra prescription with another person's name on it.

[whosthatgirl]

Yes. I was given a different kind of oral contraception. I caught it when I got home, before I took any. It was at a time when I was not at all ready for a baby, so it really bothered me. I have no idea if the switch could have allowed for ovulation, but it was unsettling. They were extremely apologetic and gave me a $10 gift card for my trouble.

[yentl]

Yup. I was on a completely different BC for about 2 months before they caught the error. I didn't catch it because the pill packs looked the exact same. There was a lot of back and forth about if it was the pharmacy, doctor or insurance companies fault and I was in the process of moving so nothing really came of it. But I was not happy.

[twodogsandababy]

I've also had this happen twice. Once they gave me the wrong dose of synthroid and once a completely wrong med. I agree mistakes happen, but it is scary.

[Kore]

Yikes.

It's happened once for me. They gave me 20mg Lexapro instead of 10mg. Thankfully, I realized (size is bigger & I googled the code imprinted on the pills). I just broke them in half.

Now, I check every time & compare the pill to its description on the instruction sheet. My generic adderall looks different every month, so I'm super careful.

[lime]

Once.

I was on medication A and was switching to medication B, which my PCP's office sent in via their computer system.

Instead of getting a new Rx for B, I got A refilled. It took about 24 hours to get it straightened out.

[undecidedowl]

Yes. They handed me the wrong bc pills. It has someone else's name on it but I was in a hurry and didn't realize it until I got it home and saw that the packaging looked wrong.

[juliabug]

Yes! It was kind of scary, but turned out to not be a huge deal. They gave me the wrong brand of birth control and I took one before realizing it was the wrong thing. The pharmacist was very apologetic, refunded my money and gave me the right pills for free.  

[Norticprincess]

I've had a few over the years. Have caught them before I've taken the meds out patient . The one DH had was the right med, wrong dose. We no longer use that pharmacy.

I'm paranoid about mine now even in the hospital. I had a drug mix up two years ago that lead to a pretty bad reaction as the nurse mixed up the order of my antibiotics so I got one back to back instead of 12 hrs apart.

When I get pills they have to match what they are supposed to if they come up different than the last set must confirm it was a manufacturer change. I need to know from the doc that the dose changed - not just have it show up.

[Deleted]

I went to pick up anti-biotics and they gave me SIL's psych meds.

It was a small pharmacy and we have the same last name, but still, our first names aren't even similar.

[Deleted]

No, but I always double check the pills match the insert photo, and if there isn't one I google. Lol. Mistakes happen, but depending on the drug they could be deadly.

[momof2boys]

When my son was one I went to the pharmacy to pick up the medication his doctor had sent over (he had RSV). The pediatrician had told me I'd have to dilute the medication so when I got the medication from the pharmacy and it didn't require dilution I asked the pharmacist about it. He didn't even look at the bottle, just told me it was right. I went home and was really uneasy about it so I called the pediatrician. Sure enough, the pharmacy gave me the wrong meds, and an adult dose. If I had given them to my son it could have caused heart issues. The pediatrician called the pharmacist and by the time I got back to get the right meds he was tripping over himself apologizing. I was trying not to burst into tears b/c of what could have happened on top of the fact that my son was having trouble breathing so we needed to get the meds into him and it was now over 2 hours later. He gave me a 50.00 gift card and looked horrified every time I went into the pharmacy after that. I now ask my pediatrician to write down the medication and dosage for what he is sending into the pharmacy so I can double check them.

[jena]

Not quite the same type of mistake, but after ankle surgery I was on hydrocodone for over a month. The bottle was supposed to have something like 30 pills and only contained 5. I assume that someone in the pharmacy had taken them for their own use.

I've also gotten home with a "liquid" antibiotic that is still in powdered form because the tech forgot to add the liquid and had to go back, which is always fun with a sick baby.

[xokell2]

Never. My pharmacy (costco) makes you visualize the bottle & the printout and has you sign an acknowledgement before you pay