am i right in saying this

[student]

pharmacist promote health isuues.

But how would you say they do this ?

blodd pressure monitoring?
diabtes checking?

[DavidS]

Re: am i right in saying this

I think that most of the time we do that by just being around, and answering questions of customers, and occasionally asking questions too!

More recently we have become more proactive, checking out a patients regular medication with them and, where helpful, discussing them with the patient and on occassion recommending changes to help the patient take what they need.

Over the past twenty years many pharmacists have got involved with helping people stop smoking, and more recently with saving some people a trip to the doctors by being able to supply common medicines for minor ailments under the NHS.

As fas as blood pressure monitoring and diabetes checking, we can and often do help with this: the limiting factor so often is not our abilities and training, but the availability of funding. Our role has still not expanded to the point that most of us feel we were trained for. Many pharmacists look forward to the time that they will be able to administer (in all senses of the word: prescribe as well as dispense) a patients drug treatment, with the doctor being brought in as consultant when a variation in treatment seems needed, or a loss of symptom control is evident. This is happening now, but it is not yet widespread.

[laurabuk]

Re: am i right in saying this

If you're talking for a formal piece of work might be best to say "Pharmacists work to promote public health issues ...."

[Jeff]

Re: am i right in saying this

pharmacist promote health isuues.

But how would you say they do this ?

blodd pressure monitoring?
diabtes checking?

Issues are decided by the PCT and pharmacies promote those issues as part of the new contract. Bradford PCT, as an example is doing its sexual health thing at the moment.

Issues are promoted to pharmacy - hoping for involvement - by any organisation - A "Caring and Sharing Group" asked us to put up some posters in Huddersfield today.

Pharmacies are at liberty to promote any health issues they wish to do - some have gone for diabetes checks or bp monitoring.

Pharmacists might have their own pet subjects e.g CodeineFree - Codeine free is a support group primarily for people with problems with codeine based OTC medicines.

Jeff

[student]

Re: am i right in saying this

A pharmacist advices on how to take medications safley.

How else would you describe what they do.

As in saying you shadow a pharmacist.What would you say about what they do?