Got a phone call on Wednesday while I was busy in theatre. <\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t recognise the number so I answered with some trepidation. The caller identified themselves as ringing from a local pharmacy, and my heart sank. My immediate assumption was that I\u2019d made a screw up on a prescription. It doesn\u2019t happen very often, but I couldn\u2019t think of any other reason why they\u2019d call me. And so it proved to be. The medication and dose was correct, but not the instructions on how frequently to take them.
\nNever mind, it was easily fixed, and without the patient having to come back to the hospital, or me going out to the pharmacy myself. All I had to do was rewrite the script, take a photo and email it to them. For legal reasons, they still needed a physical copy of the prescription, too. Flustered, I asked him how I could do that, and mistakenly asked for the fax number, when I meant the postal address (I told you I didn\u2019t make prescription mistakes very often). \u201cOh no, we don\u2019t have a fax machine\u201d he said, sarcastically \u201cbecause we no longer live in the last century.\u201d Cheeky!<\/p>\n
I rang the patient to apologise, and it was very useful, because it gave me the opportunity to amend the script to add some stronger painkillers. I emailed the updated script, posted the hard copy, and continued with my day.<\/p>\n
I got an email from the pharmacy later to confirm that they\u2019d got my email and to thank me very much for my time. I replied to say no problem and that I was grateful they\u2019d picked up the original mistake. I almost asked to pass on my thanks to \u201cthe rude man who first rang me\u201d but decided discretion was the better part of valour, and I\u2019d let sleeping dogs lie. Everyone was a winner as it turned out, anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Got a phone call on Wednesday while I was busy in theatre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-3dO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12171,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/21\/later-the-same-day-glasgow-royal-infirmary-21-september\/","url_meta":{"origin":12388,"position":0},"title":"Later the same day Glasgow Royal Infirmary 21 September","author":"Interloper11","date":"September 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Ward 64 to be more specific: surgical receiving, ie in limbo between a real surgical ward and the badlands of ED. Simon left A and E a few hours after I did, to come here. They managed to organize a CT on a Sunday which was great, and we got\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_3491-300x181.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12201,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/25\/thursday-25-september-henley-on-thames\/","url_meta":{"origin":12388,"position":1},"title":"Thursday 25 September Henley-On-Thames","author":"Interloper11","date":"September 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it\u2019s touch and go whether we get on our cruise tomorrow. Simon is still far from 100%. The low fat diet of earlier in the day became a no fat diet for dinner last night, after he measured a temperature of 37.9. 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I\u2019m not sure what he loved about it so much, but it was made of 50% alcohol.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13049,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/27\/a-waiting-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":12388,"position":3},"title":"A waiting game","author":"Interloper11","date":"June 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we depart Fiji. It\u2019s been a great holiday. So nice to spend some quality time together in a relaxed atmosphere. The highlight, strangely enough, was probably watching the super rugby final, which was unexpectedly one sided with our local team The Hurricanes absolutely blowing away the opposition, The Chiefs.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2825,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/11\/landlubber\/","url_meta":{"origin":12388,"position":4},"title":"Landlubber","author":"Interloper11","date":"July 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"My daughter just asked me if there was a toilet on our boat. I had to tell her that in nautical circles we call it a\u00a0head.\u00a0Sad.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11238,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/22\/green-prescription\/","url_meta":{"origin":12388,"position":5},"title":"Green prescription","author":"Interloper11","date":"December 22, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I love my garden. As I make my pre coffee circuit each morning, it helps me mark the passage of the seasons as I see which fruits have been eaten by the birds. 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