Hospital pharmacist's uniform

[ramroum]

Hi,

Can hospital pharmacists wear suits if they wish to. My tutor wear white coat like the doctor's one.

[N.T]

Hi,

I am starting my pre reg at a hospital soon. I saw my tutor (a female) wearing a plain white tunic which didn't indicate in any way that she is a pharmacist, and she told me that I will have to wear it as well (I am a female).
Can hospital pharmacists wear suits if they wish to, or are they obliged to wear this uniform which I didn't like at all. Why can doctors wear suits?
I know that community pharmacists wear suits if they want to!!! and some hospital male pharmacists too.

I think the uniform choice for pharmacists in many hospitals doesn't help indicate their professional status. In one hospital I worked in the pharmacist wore the same tunics as the techs and the pharmacy porter (a man who, how should i put this delicately, was missing quite a few screws). Nursing and medical staff often thought the pharmacist was the porter.

Since you're the pre-reg you're probably going to have to grin and bear the unifrom choice (unless there's enough pharmacist-rebels who don't wear it). Depending upon the overall attitude of the pharmacy, you may be able to argue your case for wearing a suit after pre-reg.

[ramroum]

I think the uniform choice for pharmacists in many hospitals doesn't help indicate their professional status. In one hospital I worked in the pharmacist wore the same tunics as the techs and the pharmacy porter (a man who, how should i put this delicately, was missing quite a few screws). Nursing and medical staff often thought the pharmacist was the porter.

Since you're the pre-reg you're probably going to have to grin and bear the unifrom choice (unless there's enough pharmacist-rebels who don't wear it). Depending upon the overall attitude of the pharmacy, you may be able to argue your case for wearing a suit after pre-reg.

Dear NT
Many thanks for your reply.

[mr_colt]

At the 3 local hospitals I have had contact with pharmacy staff in:-

Pharmacists and techs who never left the pharmacy area wore shirt and tie with trousers / blouse and trousers type of clothing unless their duties dictated the wearing of any protective clothing which they would don for that task and then remove. They usually attached ID to a belt hoop / waistband so at glance you would not know what/who they were.

Pharmacists and techs who did the ward medication and discharge medication rounds wore white cotton lab coats religiously usually with a "Pharmacy" ID badge prominently hooked onto the right breast pocket. Under the coat they wore the same stuff as the staff who stayed in the pharmacy, though techs carried these strange satchels with a manner of diagnostic equipment, BNF and a ream of notifications to give to the various Doctors about botched prescriptions they needed fixing.

mr_colt

[ramroum]

Thanks Mr clot for the info.
By the way, did anyone do pre reg exam recently (last Friday), could you please describe your experience, many thanks.

[N.T]

though techs carried these strange satchels with a manner of diagnostic equipment, BNF and a ream of notifications to give to the various Doctors about botched prescriptions they needed fixing.

mr_colt

Why did the techs carry these things, not the pharmacists? (And what diagnositc equipment exactly??)

Lots of techs think they're capable of using the BNF correctly - they don't realise the pharmacology/pharmokinetics/pharmodynamics knowledge one needs to understand to make educated decisions from it.

Hmph.

[mr_colt]

I really have no idea why the techs carried them but not the pharmacists;

The techs packs mostly contained a digital blood pressure machine (I don't call them sphygmomanometer's as they technically aren't), peak flow tester and a number of those damn Cialis sponsored alcohol-gel spray bottles. I swear that the branded drugs freebies have become a compulsory requirement to get NICE approval these days.

I know what you mean about proper pharm knowledge, one that gets me is I had to explain to my own Pain consultant about how Tramadol is worthless to take in a person who is on Ondansetron or similar 5HT3 antagonist. I don't expect consultants to be encyclopedias but a little pharmacology brush-up in their subject area every once in a while wouldnt go amiss.

I find the best way to deal with it is to imagine you can impart the knowledge directly into their brain via a rather heavy copy of Martindale's

mr_colt (not "clot," thank you.)

[johnep]

Oh dear! I need a head bashing. Please go into detail re tramadol (and presumably all opoids) all negated by odansetron.
johnep

[mr_colt]

As to why exactly it does; I can't tell you. Pharmacoligists can't currently explain why; what they do know is that Tramadol alone seems to have a need to attach itself to the 5HT3 receptors in the spine to have a sufficient analgesic effect. Obviously 5HT3 antagonists actively prevent a lot of this from happening.

Its been the subject of a number of clinical trials in recent years; this is mainly due to the increased use due to the fall in cost as GSK maintained a prohibitively priced brand patient for 20 years. It used to be the preserve of chemotherapy patients but the use for post-operative nausea has increased significantly in recent years as generics came in. Obviously analgesics are going to be used to great extent on surgical wards, this led to the discovery about the drugs incompatibility.

After that; numerous clinical trials were run. Here's one of the better ones:

Ondansetron inhibits the analgesic effects of tramadol: a possible 5-HT(3) spinal receptor involvement in acute pain in humans.
Anesth Analg. 2002 Jun;94(6):1553-7, table of contents.
PMID: 12032025 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

mr_colt.

[alex]

Thanks Mr clot for the info.
I am starting to think now that wearing a uniform in my pre reg year is a good thing, beause I don't have to think every day what to wear!

By the way, did anyone do pre reg exam recently (last Friday), could you please describe your experience, many thanks.

i did the exam last friday. It was odd. I *think* it went ok, but the questions whihc stick in your mind are the ones you know you got wrong. The closed book exam in the morning was ok, plenty of time but when you got back to check a lot of the things are just gut instinct so its hard to check. Open book in the afternoon was more pushed for time, i thought the calculations were alright, but again a lot of the questions were really random, asking things which have no bearing on whether or not you'll be a good pharmacist.