First published on March 20, 2015, this article is the answer to the complaints I’ve heard from many of you since I’ve retired. It appears that your new docs are stricter than I was when it comes to refills. Here’s how I felt about refills in 2015:
Please, don’t get mad at me! When I last examined you, I gave you instructions on when to follow up with me. I gave you prescriptions for enough pills to last you until our next visit. I told you to see me before you ran out. Now you are running out and being seen in the office doesn’t fit with your schedule.
Medications are prescribed for very specific reasons. Each medication comes with its own benefits and its own risks. Monitoring your medications for both effectiveness and harmful side effects is my responsibility. You are supposed to be my partner in this endeavor. I need your help!
Making me the bad guy is not in anyone’s best interest. I don’t like holding your refills as hostage to your next visit; but, over the last many years, I have come to the conclusion that putting off your doctor’s visit is a universal human trait. Everything is more important than following up with your doctor!
After all, you feel fine. I’m happy you feel fine. My job is to keep you feeling fine. If the medicine I prescribed for you is injuring your liver, there are two ways of finding the problem. My preferred method is to monitor you for liver injury on an appropriate schedule. The second way is to wait for you to turn yellow. Appropriate follow up and monitoring of potential side effects makes more sense than treating rare but serious side effects, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, the electronic medical record and the “portal” make it too easy to dodge your follow up visit. Sending me an electronic request for a refill or having the pharmacy contact my office for a refill means never having to talk to my staff or your doc. In the end, you get mad at me. Your expectation is I will refill your medication without question, and you will eventually see me.
While I’d like to be your friend and play the role of the good guy, I have to be your doc. I have to make sure any treatment I give you is as safe and effective as I can make it and that means seeing you for appropriate follow up.
My recommendation is that you take an empty bottle of your medication and put 2 week’s worth of pills in the bottle and put it in your medicine cabinet. When you are down to your last 2 weeks of pills, it’s time to come in. Pretty simple, huh? Help me help you. The life we save may be your own!
Here’s your music for the day and a joke.
