I would add two steps to the process:

1. When you get a new prescription, run it thru one of the drug interaction websites to make sure it won't cause other meds to become ineffective or toxic. Neither JCMC or Shoprite Pharmacy caught that my brother's blood thinner was being made ineffective by an antibiotic.

2. Look at a picture of the pill on line to make sure its the same. I was given the 10mg of a pill that was prescibed at 5mg.

The issue here is not whether I, the customer and patient, remembered the exact name of the medication. Which I didn't. The doctor had told me what it was (I had never heard of it before), I had gone home and looked it up, but by the next day, making a stop in the middle of my workday, I could not remember the exact name. It was a "know it if I see it" situation.

But that's not really the takeaway here, is it?

You take so little interest in the medication you are prescribed that you don't even know its name?

Robin.

I love that they're so close to my house, but I just had an inexcusable experience there.

I went in to pick up a prescription. The cashier started ringing it up without saying anything. I looked at the label, and it was the WRONG drug. Not just a generic, but the wrong thing. It was something I had been on several months ago. There must have been a mix-up and another prescription for it was sent in. But the medication I was there to pick up on that day was totally different. I told them this was the wrong medication, and they didn't even apologize. They just went in back to look on the computer. The cashier said, "Do you remember the name of the medication?" I mean, really?? I'm not a doctor. I only remembered the letter it started with from what the doctor had told me. Didn't they have it under my name on the computer? Finally, they found it and filled the prescription. Now, at this point you'd think they'd apologize, but no.

When a pharmacy fills a prescription, they should check the name of the drug in the system, show it to the customer, and then check it with the drug they're giving to the customer to take home. There's no room for error. It's inexcusable. If i had bad eyes or didn't bother to read the label, I'd be doing my body harm.

Ridiculous. I know people love Newport Pharmacy, but...

I've used them for about 6 years now and have had fine service except for one girl who works the counter in the early evening. She could stand to be slightly more congenial. I'm not asking for much, just a simple greeting or maybe a smile? I guess she figures her tight pants are all we need.

The other employees have been very helpful the few times I've had mixups (doctor used wrong date on script, Q about generics, etc). They've offered to call my doctor to clear things up which was greatly appreciated.

I like to know I'm supporting a local pharmacy in the age of CVS and Duane Reade and Walgreens.

Nope, never had a problem in the 12 years going there..

I have gone to this pharmacy on Erie Street for years.

Recently, I got a prescription filled there. My doctor had prescribed a drug with a form that said "no substitutions". I was given a "generic" without being informed. I only found out this when I showed my medication to the doctor.

Has this happened to anyone else? They told me the pharmacist " probably forgot" to inform me it was a generic drug.

When you get prescriptions filled there, ask if you are being provided with a " generic", I certainly will, and I will also ask if this is precisely what was prescribed by my physician.