Proud to be a part of this unsung profession

 

So, the other day I was trying to get hold of out of hours services. The doctor on call had prescribed Gentisone HC ear drops, a medication that's been out of stock for several months. That's an eternity if you work in Pharmacy.   

Turns out the GP who wrote the prescription had left for the day. No worries, I was now on the phone to his replacement. He prescribed Otomise as an alternative. I asked him if he could also do something similar for another patient's prescription (the same GP had done the same thing). 

The answer was a big fat no. 

Why is this noteworthy? It's noteworthy because this guy couldn't be bothered spending an extra minute doing his job. This is what the out of hours service is for. It's not so you can sit on the other end and eat skittles. Never mind your excuse is you haven't personally seen this patient and didn't consider phone consultation/empirical treatment. True, I can say with some authority it's a fairly self limiting condition, but what if it wasn't?

Why am I writing this? I'm writing because I, a h/c professional without prescribing powers, went out of my way to arrange an alternative for a patient. I treat my work seriously and understand the consequences if I didn't. I take pride in my work and derive satisfaction from being a pharmacist.

Doctors who take their work seriously are 1st class and deserve our respect. Sadly not all are created equal.

Days like these make me proud to be a part of this unsung profession.