Welcome to all pharmacy staff

[admin]

As any good pharmacist knows, good support staff are worth their weight in gold. The simple truth is that a pharmacy cannot operate without them.

If you work, or would like to work in a any aspect of pharmacy, then you are warmly welcomed to this forum.

Please feel free to contact other people, share your thoughts and feelings, and discuss any topic of interest to you. Maybe you are having difficulty on some coursework, or can help somebody with theirs. Sharing problems and experiences can be a real help, so use your voice and don't be afraid to ask!

[Apothecary]

Are there many people studying to be a checking technician? What do you think of it, and what do most pharmacists think of this scheme.

I'm all for it by the way

[Linnear]

Originally Posted by Apothecary

Are there many people studying to be a checking technician? What do you think of it, and what do most pharmacists think of this scheme.

I'm all for it by the way

I think it's good but I'm a little worried over where the legislation leaves us pharmacists.

On the one hand the RPSGB states that we are responsible for all Rxs that go out on our shift whether we had anything to do with their dispensing or not and on the other they say that ACTs can take over the final checks.

To me it seems to be another case of legislation being brought in badly on the whim of the minister in charge rather than a coordination of pharmaceutical resources.

I do think ACTs are the way forward I'm just a little worried that my certificate may rest on someone else's sholders.

[Apothecary]

linnear

I know what you mean, it's the Pharm Soc I'm worried about. If a technician makes an error their policy will be "well you should have trained them better", and as always won't be on our side.

In principle I am all for it, but thinking about it, it's so easy to make a mistake, that I don't want to be responsible for the errors of other people too.

[Elaine]

Do we really think that pharmacy is a dying trade? Do we really need or more important use pharmacists to their full potential?

I felt gutted at having to study for 3 years to do this job (retail), and the new kids now studying for 4 years must feel even worse.

I would personally down grade retail to say a HND level of education. If I had studied for a 2 year HND I'd feel quite satisfied about my job, but having to have done a full degree just annoys me, as 99% of what I had to learn is just not needed for the job. I say job, because I gave up years ago on a career.

:evil:

[alex]

Originally Posted by Elaine

Do we really think that pharmacy is a dying trade? Do we really need or more important use pharmacists to their full potential?

I felt gutted at having to study for 3 years to do this job (retail), and the new kids now studying for 4 years must feel even worse.

I would personally down grade retail to say a HND level of education. If I had studied for a 2 year HND I'd feel quite satisfied about my job, but having to have done a full degree just annoys me, as 99% of what I had to learn is just not needed for the job. I say job, because I gave up years ago on a career.

:evil:

Yeah, tell me about it!here I am in year 4, worth 70% of the degree and this 12 week semester has an average of 6.5hrs lectures/week (i have project and hospital to add to that, but still...). Out of that they seem to be scraping the barrel of stuff to teach us...

I'm sure all you qualified pharmacists on here are using the interpretation skills for NMR/IR/UV/Mass spectroscopy that you learnt at uni everyday. We do disease management which is really inetersting, and unusually for the degree, its relevant. Our lecturers for that are brilliant, but we just simply don't do enough of it.

[admin]

Alex

Don't you think it would be better to start out as an industrial, hospital or retail pharmacist at the start of your degree? The Mass spec stuff is useful if you work in industry, and need to understand analytical techniques, but useless for retail.

I remember answering questions in my exams that started out as " a doctor asks you to describe the pharmacology and uses of ACE inhibitors". This does simply not happen. If you work in a hospital Dr's will ask you things like "which is the best ACE inhibitor. in an elderly patient with renal malfunction" or you might add on a ward round something like "paroxetine is dually excreted, so it might be a better choice then fluoxetine for this elderly patient" etc. In retail all I need to tell people is watch out for dizzyness when you first start taking it, and these drugs can sometimes give you a dry cough!

This can be useful information though. When I worked in a hospital, a patient came in because the chain of events were: -

1. He was prescribed an ACE inhibitor for hypertension
2. This gave him a dry tickly cough (a common side effect)
3. The GP gave him amoxicillin for the cough
4. The amoxicillin gave him terrible vomiting and diarrhoea
5. He became very dehydrated
6. He ended up in hospital on a drip!

Good hey!

[kemzero]

Hi Elaine
Pharmacy is what you want it to be
It could be dying or vibrating with life
Good clinical pharmacy advice on OTC and prescription products should not be taken lightly
I know sometimes we might feel like tablet counters,but there is a lot more to pharmacy than that,for instance clinical checks on prescriptions, quite a few of my colleagues have thrown this out of the window.
Some patients have been dispensed 2 PPIs at the same time,high doses of amiodarone and so much more, we are the safety nets,and we have a very important role to play in the healthcare chain.
Don't give up yet,give pharmacy a chance,stop seeing it as a tablet counting profession,because it is not.Perhaps a post grad in medicines management might help you see things differently
:lol:

[admin]

Kemzero

I hope you are right, and I'd love to use more of the knowledge I have gained over the years. I guess all we can do is wait and see what the future brings for us.

I never take the advice I give to people lightly, and it is a serious business wether it be about OTC or prescription drugs.

Years ago I used to take diclofenac for my leg. I took it for years, and never had any advice or warnings given to me by anyone. I used to work in a lab that had 7 pharmacists in it, and nobody, not even my own GP told me of the dangers and signs to look out for. So even though I was being sick, and having terrible heartburn all the time, I still carried on taking it (I was not a pharmacist then). As a result I have a stomach that feels like it's been sand papered on the inside!

I always, when possible, explain to patients starting out on NSAID's the signs to look for, and to go back to their GP if they have any stomach problems etc. I also do the same for many drugs, such as statins, to try to help people avoid getting future problems from their medication. I'd rather spend my time doing things like this, making a positive contribution to people's healthcare, then just checking and bagging prescriptions. However the retail chains don't get paid for giving out advice, and the current cutting down of staff hours is making things like this even harder to do.

Have you done a post grad course in medicines management? If so could you post a bit about what it entails, and what you feel the benefits of it have been to yourself?

Thanks

[alchemist]

Yes I have,and its been very useful.Quite a few unis offer a range of courses.I work as a prescribing support pharmacist,(3 days a week) and i spend the rest of my working week in working as a locum in community pharmacy.GPs have a lot to do with their new contract so they usually welcome any sort of help from pharmacists.
Pharmacy is changing too- there are quite a few enhanced services we can get our teeth into like Minor Ailments schemes,Provision of levonelle against a PGD,smoking cessation,MURs ,supplementary prescribing ...and soon we will have Pharmacist Independent prescribers ..so as far as I'm concerned the future is bright the future is green (pharmacy's colour)

I istarted with a few CPPE long distance courses such as adverse reactions,care in the elderly,prescribing in cardiovascular disease etc.This prepared me for the course which dealt with four main areas -cardiovascular,respiratory ,gastro and depression .You can do a short course too then gradually build up your credits.

Because I work as a prescribing support pharmacist I have been able to apply my knowledge I work regularly in practices and have prescribing meetings with GPs and so much more

Good Luck