Being Clueless

In the past I have had many husbands who pick up medications for their wives and have no idea what illness she is experiencing or what she went to see the doctor for. I also have had fathers not know their child's illness or what they went to see the doctor for. Also a lot of the time I get "let me ask my wife" when I ask for their child's weight or problem but usually I don't have this problem when I ask the woman of the family. I wonder if it is just in the woman's nature to know. =P

Anyway, in my family, everyone always knows what is happening with everyone else, so situations like these are surprising, or at least I wonder what the family dynamics are at home. But I guess being a pharmacist, my husband does not do anything regarding illness without asking me first. =P

A dad brought in a prescription for his daughter for Zithromax (azithromycin) and Alupent (orciprenaline). It's their first time at our pharmacy, so I had to make a new profile. Sometimes I wonder when people are very clueless about their children.

Selective parts of our conversation while processing the prescription:
Me: Last name? First name?
Dad: ______ s-i-n-e. (*blanked out the beginning part of the name for confidentiality*)
Daughter: No, it's _____ s-i-n-i!
Dad: OH.
Me: Birthday?
Dad: Um...July.
Me: What date?
Dad: 21st? 25th? ... Uh...25th.
Me: Year?
Dad: Um...well...*speaks to daughter* you're 6 right? So...2006.
Me: What's your address?
Dad: Um...hold on. Let me give you my driver's license. (This is where I noticed that the street name was spelled incorrectly on the license and I told the dad he should probably get it fixed because it's an official ID).
Me: Phone number?
Dad: Um...*starts scrolling through his cell phone*...Uh...can I give you my cell phone number? It's ____.
Me: Because these are medications for a child I need to verify her weight. How much does she weigh?
Dad: 16kg I think.
Me: *calculates dose and realizes it's high - should be around 10mg/kg/day, and it was around 16*. Hm. This antibiotic dose looks high then if that is her weight. Are you sure?
Dad: Let me call my wife. *wife says it's 13kg making the dose even more high (making it around 19mg/kg/day)*
Me: Hm. The dose is even higher then which isn't good.
Dad: *lifts up his child* well, it seems like it should be 13-16kg.
Me: I guess I have to call the doctor to verify then.

Worst part is that the doctor's office kept giving excuses for why they did not fax back after I sent them a note. The dad decided to take his prescription back with my note indicating the improper dosing, and take it to his old pharmacy which is beside the doctor's office. I wish we got paid for this stuff. I caught a drug-related problem and spent over 5 minutes explaining to the dad what was happening, and then did a bunch of work writing up a letter to fax, calling the doctor's office and holding for quite a while sometimes, only to have the business leave the store. Oh, and this was for an Ontario Drug Benefit patient for which we would've gotten a reduced fee if I HAD filled the prescription.