While pharmacists are expected to be diligent; it really annoys me that some of these GP's regularly make some serious mistakes in drugs perscriptions and are let off with a slap on the wrist.
Having formed a good relationship with the ward pharmacist during my last stay in hospital while i had c.diff; she let me know exactly how she felt about a good few of the Doctors. Unfortunatly it would be un-repeatable here unless I wanted to get banned on my second post. Still It's unfair she regularly has to spend time stopping Doctors from harming or killing their patients by not checking what theyre perscribing.
For example my discharge sheet said to dispense "20mg Tolterodine qds prn" 20mg!!!!!!
Drop the zero doc
It brings me back to stories from the USA when some docs got:
DTO (De-odorised opium tincture (Laudanum) mixed up with
CTO (Camphorated opium tincture (Paregoric)
As you know Laudanum contains 25 times the morphine content of Paregoric. Yet docs were perscribing Laudanum with Paregoric doses
Fortunatly there werent as many deaths as there could have been thanks to pharmacists thinking twice rather than just blindly dispensing the Rx.
Since then strict instructions have appeared in the AHFS ensuring docs use only the names: De-odorised opium tincture and Paregoric to ensure there is no confusion.
Ironically under all this I receive Ondansetron off license for IBS-D from my consultant gastro, though it was I who approached him about trying 5HT3 antagonists and since I have been on them I've been given my life back. Perhaps if the MHRA wasn't so snotty about new 5HT3 antagonists then I wouldn't have to do this. My GP obviously refuses to perscribe on instruction the Ondansetron; he is quite content to try very high doses of Amitryptyline off-license (quite a dangerous psyco-active med these days.) as a way to control the seritonin levels reaching the enteric nervous system. It didn't work either.
Over in the US: Despite the low risk of Ishemic colitus; Alosetron (Lotronex) got re-instated because for many people it's the only effective treatment. Thousands of people were willing to travel to Washington in Adult-diapers to testify in front of the FDA as to how losing Alosetron meant losing their health, freedom and independance. Yet I fear that the euro counterpart Cilansetron will never arrive on these shores.
One would put forward the point that some of the GP's of today care more about the cost of the drugs perscribed than the health and wellbeing of the patients.
Regards,
mr_colt