• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Education
  • Events
  • Interviews
    • Career spotlight
  • Opinion
    • Professional Dilemmas
    • Patient perspective
  • PIPcast
  • Jobs
  • Business Directory

Pharmacy in Practice

EDX/20/1154
Date of prep: December 2020

Prescribing information and
adverse events reporting

For healthcare professionals only

“My Dad died” – The story of the pharmacy encounter when no-one listened

10th March 2020 by PIP editor 2 Comments

 

I’ve just been to the chemist to collect last night’s (many) prescriptions. Whilst I was waiting, a young woman came in, very dishevelled, a little dazed, carrying a giant meds bag. The following piece describes the encounter and highlights what happened next.

 

‘My dad died’, the girl said to the assistant behind the pharmacy counter.

 

‘These are his medications’.

 

‘Are there sharps in there?’ the girl asked.

 

‘No. My dad died.’

 

‘What drugs are there?’

 

‘He had cancer. My dad died,’ the woman said.

 

Each answer began with ‘my dad died’. Not once did the assistant behind the counter acknowledge it, no matter how many times it was said. No matter how many times.

 

How many times would it need to have been said to acknowledge the girl’s distress?

 

It’s easy to see how voices are missed when no one listens when it’s so obvious someone is desperate to be heard. I’ve been that woman with a meds bag, and it’s horrific. Every encounter is remembered. No matter who it’s with.

 

A consultant in a distant office or returning morphine to a pharmacy. You forget nothing. No one.

 

You can’t teach empathy (I truly believe this), but when someone begins each sentence with ‘my dad died’, they are asking for someone to listen.

 

The thing is when you take a history in psychiatry, you are almost an archaeologist of words. You sift through a narrative to find the fragile pieces you need. You try to make sense of the story.

 

This though, THIS, was a barn door. This was someone desperate to be heard. Anyone, ANYONE, who is dealing with patients, in whatever capacity, needs to be a listener. Because you never know when those fragile pieces will surface. And it might be your only chance to collect them.

 

You really need to ask yourself why someone is delivering their answer to you in this way?

 

Why are they choosing these particular words?

 

Listen to the beat of the narrative and ask yourself if something is wrong. If you are in a job where you meet patients you might be the only person who hears those words. What you decide to do with them can change the course of someone’s life.

 

Can you teach someone to listen? I’m not sure, but if you’re on the front line, dealing with patients, it’s the most valuable skill you’ll ever possess.

 

Joanna Cannon is a psychiatrist and a writer. She lives in Derbyshire and has a successful blog. This blog originated from a conversation on Twitter initiated by Joanna. 

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Patient perspective Tagged With: patient perspective

Register for our upcoming webinar and live Q&A

About PIP editor

Pharmacy in Practice is a UK pharmacy publication with its roots in Scotland.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anon says

    1st May 2018 at 1:36 am

    This very thing happened to me as a pharmacy student when my father died. I still remember it and now as an experienced pharmacist I hope it has made me more empathetic, a better listener and probably contributed to the career I have had.
    The example you have described is extreme, much more than my personal experience and quite shocking to me. I struggle to defend someone who works in healthcare, but apparently has no listening skills, but I can relate to it. The first member of staff most people meet in a pharmacy is usually a counter assistant, and while they have training (NVQ 2 is mandatory) are not generally highly educated and usually quite young as the job does not pay very well. I could add that some people don’t know what to say or how to react when dealing with serious illness or bereavement, especially if it is not something they have faced themselves, but I don’t think that is the heart of the matter in this case.
    If I had witnessed what you have described, I would have spoken to the pharmacist in charge and asked that they speak to the member of staff about the incident and that they or the pharmacy manager put some training in place for all of their staff, but it is very easy for me to say that. The business demands in community pharmacy mean that a pharmacist manager has a lot of pressure on them to generate sales (or script volume) and profit and very little time to ensure professional standards. That’s why I stopped working in this area of practice after a few years. I’m an ex. NHS Primary Care Head of Medicines Management, now working as a consultant to the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry.

    Reply
  2. Misha says

    20th September 2018 at 5:19 pm

    I encountered a very similiar situation which haunts me & resulted I my never stepping foot in this pharmacy again! I was a regular locum in a pharmacy for 4/5 years & my father whom lived far away became very ill in fact we were told its only a matter of a few days….I explained to the pharmacy manager of my circumstances & how I was unable to fulfill the remaining bookings for the next few days – he was extremely rude & gave me an ultimatum of either honouring all the shifts or never working there again!! Adi was speaking to him I was driving with tears falling into my lap…it was never a choice & one I shall always stand by!!! I lost my beloved father only a few days later…..& have never been short of work on my return!

    Reply

Begin the discussion right here Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

PIP business directory

Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor

Pharmacies should be allowed to supply rapid antibody tests

Codeine linctus has its place OTC for treating cough

Community pharmacy central to tackling hepatitis C

Pharmacists must leave their comfort zone for the sector to thrive

More letters to the editor here...

Blogs

💊 PIP live pharmacy blog

Winter stresses must not ‘destabilise’ general practice

What is it like to depend on medicine to treat endometriosis?

Opinion

Why is pharmacy not integral to government mass vaccination plans?

Pharmacy Covid-19 vaccination involvement is a ‘no-brainer’

The great patient medication returns debacle

CPD Challenges

💊 CPD Challenge: How well do you understand pulmonary embolisms?

💊 CPD Challenge: Prescribing and dispensing clozapine

💊 CPD Challenge: Oral anticoagulants – Dabigatran

More CPD challenges here...

© 2021 · About Pharmacy In Practice · Site mantained by Mike

This site is for healthcare professionals, please confirm you are a healthcare professional to continue.

YES

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Pharmacy In Practice uses cookies, by continuing to use this site we will assume you are ok with that Find out more.