Comments on Dr Rant: Pharmacists could, you know, do doctory thingies.....

i agree i'm a pharmacist and I''ll admit I don't k...

2008-05-15T18:27:00.000+01:00

i agree i'm a pharmacist and I''ll admit I don't know your arse from your elbow when it comes to diagnosis. but tell me where that arse and elbow is and I'm your man with the drugs.

Supplementary prescribing is bullshit. the RPSGB is at fault here for letting pharmacists prostitute themselves out for half the price of a doctor for a job we can't do rather than charge top-notch for a job we can.

but who the fuck thinks nurses are better trained than pharmacists? glorified arse-wipers in my opinion

quite amusing - one of the anonymous posters calli...

2008-04-10T16:54:00.000+01:00

quite amusing - one of the anonymous posters calling someone a snidy git. I didn't post that but it is always funny to see some internet warrior hurling insults from behind their keyboard - usually some little fucking bedwetter.

Anyone prescribing medicines will have had their neck saved at some point by a pharmacist or an experienced nurse.

I don't think you will be able to make pharmacists and doctors argue for too long though as we generally get on and know where professional boundaries lie - I don't think even Nu Labour could fuck that up.

if you want to diagnose, go and study medicine. if...

2008-04-10T13:45:00.000+01:00

if you want to diagnose, go and study medicine. if you want to play shop, study pharmacy.

Then, for God's sake, whatever you do, GO NOWHERE ...

2008-04-10T10:57:00.000+01:00

Then, for God's sake, whatever you do, GO NOWHERE NEAR RETAIL PHARMACY!!! It burns your soul.

Stick with nice, safe hospital pharmacy, where you don't have to worry about patient satisfaction, MURs and all that other bullshit.

Or do a PhD, and go and get an interesting job somewhere. Retail pharmacy is, generally, awful.

I'm so disillusioned, being a third year pharmacy ...

2008-04-09T21:54:00.000+01:00

I'm so disillusioned, being a third year pharmacy student I was quite looking forward to being useful in assisting with diagnoses.
Some doctors seem to have been given the wrong impression, in the community sector pharmacists are basically being used to sepearte people with a potentially serious condition (who need to see a doctor) from those who would simply waste the doctor's time.
Its fair enough to expect a professional who has spent four years at uni to do more than sit in a back room counting pills

A while ago I went into a local pharmacy to buy so...

2008-04-07T15:21:00.000+01:00

A while ago I went into a local pharmacy to buy some Clearasil for my teenage son's acne. The assistant - a youngish eastern European woman- told me that I must buy some Vitamin tablets (5 or 6 quid a bottle)to go with it. She asserted that there defintely was research evidence for this. On closer questioning the evidence she was quoting was her personal experience that her own spots improved after she started vitamin supplements.

I don't think she understood why I was a bit upset. Now I daresay that the pharmacist would not have given this advice but the point is that the average punter (particularly the young or elderly) may not realise that the counter assistant knows fuck-all while the pharmacist is out back most of the time.

"pharmacists are useful people but if you are usin...

2008-04-07T10:36:00.000+01:00

"pharmacists are useful people but if you are using them to "save your bacon" then perhaps it says more about you than them"

Snidy git. Presumabley never knowingly made a mistake.

I wouldn't be able to do my job without pharmacist...

2008-04-06T11:13:00.000+01:00

I wouldn't be able to do my job without pharmacists, because they are able to give excellent advice about medication. They are not a diagnostic profession.

Doctors diagnose, pharmacists dispense and give drug advice, nurses nurse.

All are essential fields of healthcare, but separate.

I have known some (paediatric) pharmacists who wer...

2008-04-06T00:41:00.000+01:00

I have known some (paediatric) pharmacists who were worth their weight in gold for advice about variations in drug levels with the local lab's means of measurement, drug interactions, compatabilities of different IV infusions, desensitisation regimes before giving antibiotics to allergic patients...lost of different things. Because they have valuable expertise . So why in the name of all that is holy would you want to take them away from what they have been trained to do, and try to make them do something for which they are not trained? The government is nuts.

I agree.............pharmacists. though they do a ...

2008-04-05T17:02:00.000+01:00

I agree.............pharmacists. though they do a good job ae unable to provide a full diagnosis, they could probably sort out colds n sore throats and cut n bruises......anything else.....er....NO NO and NO again

5 years at med school, intercalated degree and a p...

2008-04-05T11:05:00.000+01:00

5 years at med school, intercalated degree and a post grad research degree so yes, I am bloody expensive, with 10 years at university, lurking around hospitals and generally being highly trained.

Oh bugger it, just phone the NHS direct and get atypical meningitis diagnosed over the phone.

I gave up on this corrupt shower and their stupid patient-hating targets years ago and sold my soul to big pharma.

It's not likely to happen in many places: the PCTs...

2008-04-05T01:09:00.000+01:00

It's not likely to happen in many places: the PCTs haven't been given any extra funding to pay for it,so it's just a gimmick that won't go anywhere.

There's a leaflet in my ED which tells patients ab...

2008-04-04T23:30:00.000+01:00

There's a leaflet in my ED which tells patients about other ways of "accessing healthcare" and suggests that for sprains and strains they should consult their pharmacist. Now call me old fashioned, but what part of the pharmacy degree does the Ottawa Ankle Rules come under?

I have removed these leaflets and consigned them to the bin.

Anonymous is right - pharmacists are useful people but if you are using them to "save your bacon" then perhaps it says more about you than them.

Agree. Let people who are trained in diagnostics d...

2008-04-04T19:22:00.000+01:00

Agree. Let people who are trained in diagnostics do the job of diagnosing.
We should let the homeopaths at boots the chemist to do the diagnostics.
hehe

There is an element of truth here. I frequently ho...

2008-04-04T18:01:00.000+01:00

There is an element of truth here. I frequently holiday in Portugal and pharmacists over there are consulted for advice far more than here.....but they are NOT used as diagnosticians, purely for advice on medications and their possible side effects.

Can you post the reference for the research showin...

2008-04-04T10:27:00.000+01:00

Can you post the reference for the research showing pharmacists are wrong 50% of the time, sounds a bit high to me. Most pharmacists are very good and have saved my bacon several times -yes I'm a Dr.
My main gripe with them is selling placebo cough medicines

Agreed, doctors need to do the diagnosing and phar...

2008-04-04T10:18:00.000+01:00

Agreed, doctors need to do the diagnosing and pharmacists can stick to dealing with drugs, dosing side-effects etc.

Doctors are perceived as being too expensive so the government wants all the cheaper people to start doing doctors' jobs.

This does not seem like a good idea if we want quality healthcare.

P.S. Yes I am a pharmacist.

I agree totally. Who is going to be dispensing the...

2008-04-04T08:29:00.000+01:00

I agree totally. Who is going to be dispensing the prescriptions whilst I am playing doctors? Some non-pharmacy trained technician maybe? They do my job on the cheap, I do yours on the cheap (and with very basic diagnostic skills) and the NHS save a few quid....

I am very good at diagnosing mouth ulcers and athletes foot :)