Dosette/Blister Packs

[laura/nottingham]

Hi

Does anyone familiarise with dosettes/blister packs for confused patients or care homes?

Thanks

[johnep]

Venalink, Nomad, dosette packs (like a book with a section for each day)
lloyds system or?
johnep

[laura/nottingham]

Not sure what I use at my work, we have two types.

Just like a book, with the days and section.

Did you know it is discrimination not to supply a patient with their medication these? Another questions, does anyone but ibuprofen or paracetamol in them, or tablets that are PRN?

[Mrs. Robinson]

does anyone but ibuprofen or paracetamol in them, or tablets that are PRN?

i do, can be boxed but always contact nurse, patient etc..first

[Defblade]

Did you know it is discrimination not to supply a patient with their medication [in] these?

That's not exactly accurate.

The Disability Discrimination Act states that anyone providing any services to anybody must make reasonable adjustments to their business in order that people with permenent disabilities are not disadvantaged.

In pharmacy, we were lucky enough to secure a small amount of money to help towards this in our funding, but this does not change the burden of requirement to make reasonable adjustments compared with other healthcare professionals (even though they may believe that "we get paid" and that they don't - it doesn't alter the fact that the law applies to all).

The law also avoids defining exactly what it means by disablility. If anyone brought a legal case complaining they considered themselves disabled under this law and hadn't had that taken into consideration, the Court would judge on whether or did they did fall under the Act.

This means that each person must be assessed as to whether their disability is long term and whether it would cause a problem with that person using our service - whatever that may be. Usually dispensing medicines. The assessment needs to be carried out by the person providing the service.

If the patient/customer is found to be be disabled under the Act, the service provider must consider what reasonable adjustments, if any, are required to stop that person being disadvantaged.

The key word is "reasonable".

Up to a point, providing dosette/blisters may be reasonable. BUT the first consideration is that not every disabled person can use them (eg arthritic hands, poor sight) and further considerations might be available space and workload in the pharmacy. Any dispensary will have some sort of limit on the amount of work that can go through it, and blisters are extremely labour and space intensive. Employing extra staff or building an extension in order to do more and more blisters would probably not be considered within "reasonable".

Also, many of these patients/customers are housebound. It would currently be very unreasonable for the pharmacist to entirely close the shop in order to visit one to carry out a DDA assessment. It may become more reasonable once the Responsible Pharmacist Regulations come in (Oct '09) with their allowed absences; but as the shop would still pretty much have to stop dispensing business when the pharmacist goes it would probably still be unreasonable in a busy shop.


So you see the situation is much more complicated than "it is discrimination not to supply" and as far as I'm aware, little or none of it has been tested in the Courts yet.

[razorbladekisses]

We use Medisure for most of our community patients. For the residential home we use Venalink. Community patients tend to get their painkillers in a separate box whereas patients in the residential home get theirs in a blister pack.

[jaymags]

We have about 20 patients who require medication in weekly trays and it's hard work. Some only have two tablets some have 17 different medications. We spread them over two days. Only two of us are deemed able to do them and if one of us its off it's horrendous for the other one, especially when we have to stop and switch to walk ins. The concentration involved is intense, it takes us 45 minutes to an hour to prepare the trays,( especially if there are new prescriptions to be ordered), that's before we get the tablets ready for dispensing, then about another hour to fill the trays.
When one of us has to go out on deliveries as well it can take longer depending on how busy the shop is.
We do have an allocated area for doing this and our own box full of goodies (medication) to select from which saves time. Before we had a shop refit it was worse, no space.
Us dispensers are also responsible for ordering in any medication we need for the trays and the prescriptions when needed. All in all its hard work doing trays. For an independant pharmacy we don't do too bad. It's just my sore, rough thumbs and fingers I feel sorry for, popping out all those tablets I will propably end up with RSI.

[laura/nottingham]

You are so RIGHT!!! I have to push out 224 capsules of Mucodyne capsules a month. And we also have a patient on Depkate, 8 in a day and they stink awful.

Have you employers thought about getting a poppet devide?? Expensive, but I'm sure there is a cheaper device someone, I'll look out for one actually, I culd do with it.

Thant's good to say you are an independant. I am at one, but Boots and Co-Op steal our customers. We used to have a lot of patients at various homes, but not no more. We are happy to have the addicts. Never in my life I thought I'd dispense Herion (diamorphine powder) though.

[jaymags]

Haven't heard about a poppet device ( and I doubt if my boss would invest in one) and have you ever tried cutting a spironlactone 25mg tablet in half? Even with a tablet cutter one half always disintegrates. With the introduction of child proof (not child resistant) blister packs the job is even harder. I usually score along the foil with my nail first, especially for capsules.

[JonF]

We found the Poppet device quite slow and it lay collecting dust as no-one liked using it. We eventually sold it to another pharmacy. I think they are over £200 to buy if i remember correctly.