I did my 1st prescription intervention today!!
Posted by mei | Posted in Life as a pharmacist, On a serious note, Pharmacy queries | Posted on 02-08-2010
Tagged Under : Iglu and bonjela for mouth ulcers, locorten-vioform twice daily, naproxen not prescribable under nhs by dentist, whats best OTC treatment for ulcers if breast feeding?
I am so proud of myself today. I am happy. Im glad I did something good for my patient! Woohoo.
Ok, I know you want to know what it was. It wasn’t sucha biggie really. Just a prescription for locorten-vioform ear drops. Doctor prescribed four times a day, I knew it wasn’t meant to be used that frequently, as it was a steroid drops, normally its about twice a day, so I looked it up and according to the BNF, 2-3drops twice a day for 7-10days! I rang up the surgery, clarified it, and explained to the patient, and he was really thankful! I sent the prescription back to the surgery for ammendment. But I gave out the ear drop with the correct directions on there. So thats the highlight of my day! yay!
Other things I’v learnt today :-
1. Naproxen not prescribable under NHS by a dentist. Alternative would be Ibuprofen, but patient allergic to it, next best option was diclofenac, which can be used for dental pain.
2. A lady with mouth ulcers wanted to buy something OTC. I found out she was breast feeding, so I wouldnt sell bonjela, it contains salicylic acid – aspirin related stuff – worried about reye’s syndrome- so I sold Iglu instead, that contains lidocaine, which is ok for breast feeding, as minimal quantity gets into breast milk.
Thats it for the day, I had a very pleasant, and smooth day today! Off tomorrow.
thumbs up! my local surgeries are so good in Rx i seldom have interventions really, usually just typos on directions or not signed. What nasty about locorten-vioform is I spot a quantity error when i was still a pre-reg. The pharmacist working with me has dispensed 10ml bottle instead of 7.5ml bottle. (7.5 on Rx)
Is it just a single item on the Rx!? I find it really difficult to spot these type of errors if the px is not of extreme age groups, and if this kind of thing is hidden amongst the 1000 items the patient takes. eg if the Rx is bendro, rami, parace, loco-v and temaz etcetc and i will find my mind not really clinical when i am checking. One of the surgeries in my area can squeeze about 7-9 items on a Rx which always drive me nuts. not a gd practice.
anyway well done! the only error I spotted today was only wrong strength of Asacol MR (400 instead of 800) which made me think… did i make any mistakes…quite scary thoughts huh…for a day like this. but even worse last week checking my own dispensing
dun like it.
talking abt breastfeeding it agains drive me nuts about the latest BNF eliminating those important appendices at the back. I hate looking at monographs etc the original sectioning was so gd and useful back then
heyho.. thanks for leaving comments again derek.. yea both the 7.5ml and 10ml look quite similar in size.. it was a single item, thus easier to recognize the problem. most of the time im not clinically inclined when checkg lotsa Rx, but it was one of my previous experience, someone asked me how long to take it. i remembered it contained antibacterial as well, so i thought finish the course! But then when i look it up, it was only for 7-10days because of the steroid. so i had to look up for the patient’s phone number, ring her back, and apologize. in this case, i will always remember.
about BF, i bring my own bnf. Because i know the latest one doesnt have the appendix anymore. i hate it! i always try to double check with the latest bnf, but im still using my own 58 edition.