Pls accept me as a drug expert or at least some1 who knows med a little bit more than u

Lotsa customers came to buy travel sickness pills fr me today..

He is one of them.. Tall, polite, decent lookin, english speakin..

Him: "I want this medicine, Dramamine, for prevention of motion sickness."

Me: "Oh, Dramamine is no longer available here but i do have an alternative. Its called Novomin. It contains the same active ingredient as Dramamine."

Him: "Really, does it contain Aspirin? I cant take Aspirin.."

I repeated myself: "There's no aspirin in there. It contains the same medicine as Dramamine. If Dramamine works for you, Novomin shd be okay as well. "

He seemed to have understood me, then he took 3 steps away from my dispensary, stood there for a moment and stared at the box of Novomin.

Then he turned around, came up to me and enquired again:

"This really doesnt contain Aspirin right? Cos i really cant take Aspirin u noe. I get swollen eyes."

"Yes, this has no Aspirin. If there is any, it will be stated on the box."

He seemed convinced enough to go away but I muz say Im veri disappointed.

Why? Becos pple like the above customer, who looks like he has obtained a certain level of higher education, doesnt believe in what the pharmacist says. Even simple things like what this medicine contains, he is sceptical... What does this imply abt the rest of the public?

There's an article in Straits Time abt pharmacist, juz yesterday. It talked abt the role of pharmacist as some1 who spots medication errors and help doctors in the dosing and monitoring of medicine. I have to admit that Im no clinical pharmacist and i have moments of ignorance too. But Im pretty sure that none of the medicines in my cupboard contain Aspirin. I oso know that if u r allergic to aspirin, u shdnt take NSAIDs as well. I bet the above customer dun and i bet he wun believe me even if i told him so.

Yesterday a lady came w a script for Prednisolone. It states:
Pred 50mg for 4 days under instructions and
40mg for 4 days, 30mg for 7 days and 25mg for 7 days under remarks.

For the pple out there who dunno, prednisolone is a steroid and when u take high doses of oral steroid, you cant juz stop them abruptly.

And so i told her, straight and crystal clear. The doctor has written this and how this medicine shd be taken. She dunno believe me AT ALL. Even when i point to the words on the script and read them out word for word, in front of her very eyes, she still dun believe me. She insisted that her doctor told her to take for 4 days only and to infuriate me even further, she asked me if this is how i translate the script. What is there to translate? Its not even a handwritten script, its computer generated. I gave up and told her I dun hav enough tablets for her.

I remembered telling a fren (a teacher) that sometimes doctors make mistakes. She dun believe me. I guess its the same with all the pple out there except for pharmacists. I remember spotting a medication error when i was workin in a clinic as a clinic assistant after my A levels. On the patient's card, under allergy, Ponstan was written and yet Ponstan was prescribed to the very patient on his very first visit. Thank God Im blessed with super pharmacist viligance even without my 4 years in pharmacy school and saved that quack's ass.

Mebe we pharmacists are not as recognized as nurses or doctors becos we hide behind our counters spotting mistakes. We dun say things like, "Crap, Dr Brainless has left out the strength again" (in front of you) but that doesnt mean we dun call the doctor and check with him. A classmate actually told me that there is a "whatever" doctor in her polyclinic becos he always forget to write the strength of Metfomin and everytime she checks with him, he always reply, "whatever".

The only thing patients care abt is how long do they have to wait before they can get their med. They get mad with us when we dun dispense medicine fast enough, but do u understand the frustrations behind every call to the doctor? Sometimes, the doctors dun even thank us and most certainly we dun get any appreciation out of u. Is it our fault that we save ur life when we intervene in a potential drug interaction? A good example would be prescribing NSAID to a warfarin patient. A simple but terrible mistake. A customer of mine told me this is exactly what happened to him and he ended in the hospital for a week becos of internal bleeding. Will this happen if there is a pharmacist around? Probably not. But would u noe if an intervention has taken place becos a pharmacist has spotted and corrected it? No either, becos we hav ethics to protect the dignities of our healthcare colleagues. But sadly, we lost ours in return. How? Why?
Quoting the actual words of a real customer:
" U dun hav to call and check the script. My doctor knows.."

Will dispensing rights be ever return to us in the near future?

I doubt...

Are we going be as recognized as our fellow healthcare coworkers?

I hope...

Are our benefits and monthly pay going to increase?

I dun think so...

Are we going to call the doctors when we spot something out of line?

We muz, in our line of duty..

How are we going to face the angry crowd, waitin impatiently for their med day after day?

Like We always do..