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General Discussion Area / Re: Middle East
« on: 14 April 2024, 08:04:39 »
Certainly things are stepping up now.
Welcome to OOF
.What I don't get is...The pharmacists' job appears to be counting. Not sure when it became a requirement to have a university degree to count up to 14 (or multiples thereof)
So it takes at least 2 people 15 minutes to move a pre-sealed box of pills about 3 feet from the shelf where they were stacked to the "customer". You get home, take that day's pills and wash them down with a nice single malt.
The pharmacist's job is checking, not counting. They're checking that the prescription is safe both singly and in combination with other medications, correctly prescribed(the right dose, chemical, amount etc), labelled and given to the correct person before putting their name and reputation on it. It's not unusual for a pharmacist phone the prescribing doctor and read them the riot act about dangerous prescriptions as they have far more understanding of how the drugs actually work, and don't just look up the symptoms and likely drug in a list.
What you're implying is the equivalent of Boeing relying on the new, barely trained, over-worked employee being able to fit a door panel without supervision and inspection. Or some fool designing his own deep water submersible.
I disagree. 99.999% of prescriptions are pills in pre-packed blisters. Opening the packet tells you nothing. If the pills in the blister is the wrong drug, or the wrong strength they won't know. They don't grind one up to measure it's strength and there is no visual difference between a 2mg, 5mg, 10mg, 20mg pill. Even if there were you can't see through the foil covering the pill in the blister.
At best they are counting the number of pills, and checking that the drug name and strength printed on the blister foil is the same as on the cardboard box. If there is no other pill on the prescription they can't tell if it contradicts other medication. I'm on Esomeprosol, and I soon learnt not to ask for Ibruprofen at the same time coz you get the riot act read to you. Just buy the Ibruprofen later.
In the old days when pills came in a large 'sweetie' jar and they had to count them out into a bottle using that triangular measuring thingy then yes perhaps Pharmacists had a role. Nowadays, nope - simply more NHS inefficiency. Most pills could be dispensed by a vending machine in one tenth the time and a fraction of the cost - especially repeat prescriptions.
I find that quite surprising being honest. Both myself and my wife have regular prescriptions, and the cardboard box containing the blister packs are never opened, and they are presented in the paper bag still intact with the clear seal on the box. This is the same whichever chemist we use.