Imagine running out of your eight-year-old’s asthma medication, and when you head to the local pharmacy they tell you it’s going to be several days until they’re able to get more. Or imagine realizing you’ve been paying more than $100 to fill a prescription at the local pharmacy that you can order online for $20? In recent months complaints against Friday Harbor Drugstore’s Pharmacy such as those above have been popping up on social media. Other concerns include inability to fill needed prescriptions in a timely manner, running out of certain medications and not carrying prescribed medications. The Journal asked the pharmacy about these issues.

“There are over 7,000 drugs in the U.S. actively prescribed,” said Cristina DuVall, pharmacy manager. “We follow the general rule of most pharmacies by attempting to keep in stock the top 200.”

Duvall explained that the pharmacy often gets requests for medications from Canada and Mexico which they attempt to find equivalents for as well.

“Given the size of our pharmacy we limit our stock to a two-week supply of commonly prescribed medications,” said DuVall. “We also notify patients if they have a medication we do not generally stock; in turn we ask them to notify us early, in time for us to order the medication before they run out.”

In regards to complaints that the pharmacy has run out of prescriptions that are consistently refilled, DuVall notes that, as with everything that comes from off island, medications take time to be shipped to the island.

“Given our island location, it takes us two business days from when we order…to when we receive a shipment from our main distributor. Weekends and holidays will delay these orders further,” she added.

Making it harder for the pharmacy to keep up with stock is the fact that many patients don’t attempt to refill their prescriptions until after they’ve already completely run out.

“We often get requests for refills when the patient has already run out of the prescription,” said DuVall. “The best time to reorder is at least three days before running out.” She also reminds patients that the pharmacy participates in an auto-fill service that allows people, free of charge, to automatically fill maintenance medications three days before they’re scheduled to run out.

Another issue that an islander mentioned online was about requesting a refill when no refills are remaining on the prescription. “The prescribers legally have 72 hours to respond to refill requests,” said DuVall. “We cannot dispense drugs without active prescriptions.”

The pharmacy recently began a practice of prescription renewals on maintenance medications on the day of the final fill for an expiring prescription and then placing it on hold until requested.

Another cause of long wait times for refills is that the prescribing physician does not always get the prescription to the pharmacy in a timely manner.

“The fax may be delayed or misdirected,” said DuVall. “Some prescriptions are sent to the wrong pharmacy and we have to track them down to get reversed and transferred for us to fill.”

DuVall said she realizes that not everyone understands the process of filling a prescription.

“It is much more than slapping a label on a bottle,” she says. “Processing a prescription requires typing, assembling, paperwork, reviewing the patient’s profile for drug and disease interactions, calling prescribers or insurance for discrepancies, billing, counting and measuring, verifying accuracy and storing.”

Not all islanders and unhappy with the pharmacy’s service.

“My experience has always been positive,” said islander Leah McConnell, who visits the pharmacy weekly to fill her multiple prescriptions. “When there’s been a problem…it is usually my fault for not keeping on top of things.” McConnell uses the email alert service that notifies her when prescriptions are completed and ready for pick up. The handful of times when the pharmacy did not have enough medication in stock to completely fill her prescription, McConnell says that they were able to give her enough to last until the next shipment arrived.

“When there were problems they have been good about working with me to solve them,” said McConnell.

DuVall and her staff continue to strive to address patient needs and concerns.

“In February we switched to a new software system in an effort to improve pharmacy services,” she said. “Many of the new services we provide are in response to patient requests. We welcome all positive suggestions.”