These hours are killing me!

[DavidS]

once you work in a pharmacy even as a summer student, you will realise alot of things that happen are not in agreement with the RPSGB Code of Ethics.

Well, I've had a fair bit of experience, and I think you have a point, up to a point.

Take SOPs (Collective sigh smilie omitted).

The current ME&P has it (p103, 2.1) policies and standard operating procedures to ensure the safe and effective provision of ......in place, maintained and regularly reviewed.

IMHO SOPs are largely a waste of paper - not completely, but the essential points of good practice tend to become lost in a sea of "smile at the patient" type vacuous rubbish, and this has the effect of making them largely useless in practice. I have NEVER seen anyone pull out the SOP to see what they should do in a given set of circumstances. Frequently the established safe practice in a given premises is not as recommended by the SOP, and, again IMHO, businesses would grind to a juddering halt if every term of the SOP was applied in practice. But they are useful when you need to wind up the people who give you lots of hassle. And I dare say they help the company nail some poor pharmacist to the floor if it wasn't complied with to the letter - and when is it.

I recently got a magazine from the PDA in which some poor sod had been hauled through the excrement for a couple of years, and eventually the PDA settled the case. I cannot for the life of me see where this poor chap had been at fault at all? It seems his "guilt" relied on the fact that a label had been generated while he was on duty, although the stock had been picked, the label affixed and (critically) the script checked long after he had gone home. It seemed to be hinted that the SOP might have come down against the advance labelling of prescriptions (contaminating the audit trail, or some such rubbish), when it is obviously the best way, using most systems, of checking that the script is correct - aligning with the past record - and ordering the stock. What a nonsense.

I'm sure there are plenty of other examples, from drinking water in the dispensary, oh, perhaps we should compile a list...

[johnep]

One SOP from our 'favourite' company states that CD scripts kept in safe place and dispensed when pt comes in. This often means just put in a tray and on a Saturday morning you discover:
1) Stock not ordered.
2) legal error on script.

johnep

[DavidS]

Mrs S's plants took another hammering this week from the wind and rain, and the subject of a warmer climate came up again.

So what we want to know is, have you any recommendations.

It must be warmer and dryer than Greater Manchester, sunnier, milder winters, English speaking, and respecting of my pharmacy qualifications, as I'm not ready to help out in the garden just yet.

Tolerance of eccentrics would also be welcomed.....

I posted this on the global forum, but, hey, I don't need to travel THAT far, do I?