They did reimburse me for the € 2.50.
14:00: A patient arrives. He urgently needs his next dose of Acic by 17:00, but he didn't bring any. Is this a problem?
No way! I say. It's Acic. Of course we stock Acic.
14:10: Acic? We ran out last week, J says.
Check for Virzin, that's the same thing. I'll hold, I say. After five minutes on hold, J confirms that no, we're definitely out of Acic on ward four.
14:15: Ward one doesn't stock Acic.
14:20: Ward three doesn't stock Acic.
14:25: Ward five doesn't stock Acic. There's no Acic to be found in this hospital. Acic has stopped sounding like a real word to me.
Well, no problem, I say. There's like five pharmacies in walking distance of this hospital.
14:35: Write me a prescription for Acic! I tell my supervisor, when he finally answers his phone.
Why don't you write it yourself? he says. Also, what on Earth are you planning to do with that prescription?
I'm allowed to write prescriptions? That's news to me.
14:45: A brief digression to Wikipedia. I'm allowed to write prescriptions! I didn't know that. Why didn't I know that? I feel both stupid and mad with power at the same time.
Sadly, my newfound superpower won't help me now. As my supervisor just informed me, there's one, and exactly one, pharmacy we're allowed to order medication from. It's an hour away by car.
14:50: Oh, sure, I'll put it in a taxi, we'll get it to you by five, no problem, says Pharmacy Guy. That'll be € 180 for the taxi, and € 2.50 for the Acic. Did you clear that with Mr. E?
15:50: Mr. E's the administrative head for the clinic. He's on the phone a lot. It usually takes like two hours to get through to him, but this time I manage it in one.
Are you sure that's medically necessary? It's € 180 for the taxi, you know.
I'm sure. I'm really sure. Yes, definitely sure - um, with all due respect, I need this by five and it'll take an hour to get here, can I please call the pharmacy now?
16:00: Nevermind, Pharmacy Guy says. We're out of stock on Acic today. I didn't check earlier, because we usually always stock that! I don't know what happened there.
16:10: Well, if it's really medically necessary, Mr. E says. In that case I guess you can get it from a local pharmacy. If you really have to. Don't go yourself, though! Send intern R.
16:15: No one on Ward one has seen intern R.
16:20: No one on Ward three has seen intern R.
16:25: No one on Ward four has seen intern R.
16:30: Intern R? Oh, she went home like an hour ago, why?
16:40: I WROTE A PRESCRIPTION, I tell my supervisor. I AM GOING TO TAKE THIS PRESCRIPTION TO THE PHARMACY, I tell my supervisor. I AM GOING TO PAY € 2.50 OF MY VERY OWN MONEY FOR THIS MEDICATION AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO REIMBURSE ME. MY SHIFT'S BEEN OVER FOR TEN MINUTES AND YOU CAN'T EVEN STOP ME AND I DO WHAT I WANT. ANY OBJECTIONS?
Um, sure, you do that, my supervisor says. Is everything okay? You sound a little stressed.
16:45: I write a prescription. I've never written a prescription before, so I do it according to the instructions on Wikipedia. My printer runs out of ink halfway through, so the bottom half's pale grey and also it turns out I still had scrap paper in the printer, so there's random crossed-out text on the back of the page. I don't even give a shit at this point, and also I'm running out of time.
16:49: The pharmacy's a comfortable four minute walk away. They're very happy to sell me some Acic. No one points out that my prescription looks like it was written by an impostor according to instructions on Wikipedia.
16:54: I return. Sweaty. Exhausted. Triumphant. Here's the Acic! I tell J.
Why are you still here? Your shift was over half an hour ago, J says. Also, I found some Acic thrown in with the narcotics earlier, so you can give yours to ward one for their stores.
(This actually happened a couple weeks ago. Why am I thinking of it today? Because today V spent half an hour during the noon meeting arguing with our boss over whether Patient T needed his meds urgently enough to justify the € 180 taxi delivery from the pharmacy. Cost of keeping nine doctors sitting around for half an hour of pointless argument: Approximately € 240. And then they had to pay the taxi anyway.)