🩺 Man hugs in the ER

PLUS: Low cost semaglutide, frontline tales, and dementia gains

Yup, we’re all feeling the pain of those high prices at the grocery store.

But as painful as that’s been, that’s nothing compared to the big-time markups Novo Nordisk has been adding to Ozempic. How big? A new study found that it costs only about $5 to produce. And while it costs us Canadians $155/month, our neighbours to the south are getting a raw deal, paying nearly $1000/month for the drug. No wonder Big Pharma finger pointer Sen. Bernie Sanders put out a statement demanding they at the very least do a Superstore-style price match.

Now here’s the weekend roundup! (4 minute read)

#ShoppersThugMart 🤑

Imagine scoring a gig as a Shoppers pharmacist, only to realize you’re stuck making more spam calls than a telemarketer.

What happened: Shoppers Drug Mart is under fire for pushing its employees to bombard customers, even those at low risk, with calls about their medication. These calls get billed as virtual MedsCheck reviews under Ontario's program, where pharmacies are reimbursed $60-75 per call—nearly 2x what family doctors can bill. One pharmacist disclosed their manager pushed for up to 20 calls per shift, with 96% used for reviews, often without patients’ consent. Despite guidelines recommending 20-30 minute reviews, calls are often wrapped up in five minutes or less. 

Why it’s interesting: Medcheck, a government initiative, keeps patients informed about their prescriptions and meds — crucial for those without healthcare access. When COVID-19 struck, Ontario approved phone consultations. Who’d have guessed associate owners would jump on these lowered barriers for profit? 

Shoppers’ Internal data says: 

  • From 2022-23, a pharmacy location billed over 300% more medication reviews.

  • A 10% bonus was dangled for exceeding target plans by 2023.

  • In Dec. 2023, a VP announced plans to chat with associate owners about weekly targets.

  • In Jan. 2024, a district manager expressed "deep disappointment" in their performance quotas.

A pharmacist spills how a Shoppers Drug Mart store had a first-year student impersonate a pharmacist to call patients for medchecks: "People tell me to report this, but why? To whom? It's the norm across all Ontario SDMs now because top-level directives are completely out of touch with stores, pharmacists, and patients, focusing solely on stock price and shareholder dividends."

Bottom line: Pharmacists have called out Shoppers Drug Mart's performance expectations as a toxic influence on company culture and patient care. Despite quota denials from President Jeff Leger, the situation needs serious attention that needs to be addressed — pronto.

Guess What I Saw Today

Saw a surgeon get upset that HE moved the patient table into the anesthesia area and the anesthesia nurse had the audacity to ask where she should sit. His response?

“Studies show people who stand tend to live longer. So if you think about it, I’m actually doing you a favor.”

Anonymous

Was called out for a middle aged woman involved in a "head vs pole". This charming young lady had an approx half meter length of pipe with bicycle wheel pegs inserted in the ends that was wrapped in purple duct tape that she had named the "purple people beater" and reportedly carried for self defense. After smoking a substantial amount of meth, followed by an equally substantial amount of cannabis to "settle my stomach from the meth", she got into a tiff with her significant other, stormed off and threw the aforementioned purple people beater at a tree with enough force that it bounced back and whacked her in the side of the head just behind the temple causing a brief loss of consciousness. Final rule out reported to the receiving ED: "head trauma secondary to flying purple people beater".

Anonymous medical student, moonlighting as a paramedic

I had a young man, not much older than me, with no family or friends locally, come in w/ rectal bleeding and it turned out he had a large tumor from colon cancer. He just broke down crying, and the moment seemed right, so I hugged him. He sat there crying on my shoulder for what seemed like over a minute. He confided that he'd never had a man hug him before, that it wasn't the culture growing up in his family. He didn't know what to do or who to call, so I made him call his brother and his dad who he hadn't contacted in years, and they both immediately starting driving from out of town to see him. We got him admitted and he is doing well to this day, and has rekindled his family relationships.

Anonymous

These stories are sourced from Postcall readers as well as across the internet. Have a riveting tale of your own? Send us your best “Guess What I Saw Today” from the OR, ED, or clinic (anonymized, obviously).

Speed Reads 🚤 

1: 🧠 According to a recent JAMA study, the decrease in dementia is because of an increase in brain size. The study examined 3,000+ brain volumes of people born between 1930 and 1970 and suggested that over the years there has been “improved brain development.”

2: 🦹‍♂️ A US district judge sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of failed fund FTX, to 25 years in prison on Thursday. The severity of the sentence is somewhat in the middle, compared to other corporate fraudsters. Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to 11 years for committing fraud with with her blood-testing company, Theranos. Bernie Madoff, the mastermind behind a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, died in prison while serving his 150-year sentence.

3: 👨‍⚕️ CMAJ has reported that the working hours of male doctors declined by 14% between 1987 and 2021 (55 hours to 48 hours), while the hours of female doctors has remained stable (about 45 hours/week). Physician burnout is thought to be one of the reasons behind the decline.

4: 🦠 An Ottawa woman avoided major amputation after being treated by experimental phage therapy — which uses viruses to attack harmful bacteria. As a last resort, to fight the woman’s antibiotic-resistant infection, Health Canada authorized a rare single patient clinical trial.

5: 📖 Read: Boeing employees explain how the company sacrificed quality for speed. (New York Times)

Laugh of the Day

It’s an oldie but a goldie.

Game ⛳️

Say goodbye to Q1, with your favourite super-challenging crossword.

First question: What’s a fancy way of saying right-sided heart?

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