Pharmacist reviewed my prescription?

[adultcat]

I live in a smallish village - the kind where everyone know each other (or thinks they do!). I serve my doctor and pharmacist where I work so am familiar with them.
Today, I went to collect my repeat prescription and was asked if I had five minutes to spare for the pharmacist to speak to me. We went off in the side room and he logged on to the computer. He then asked me if I was happy with my medication / any side effects. Asked me if I am happy with my contraception and what alternatives there were as I've stopped taking the mini pill as I wasn't getting on with it - he wanted to know why...!
The whole 'chat' felt really uncomfortable, possibly because I serve him as a customer but I was wondering if this is a done thing now? I thought it would be my doctors place to review my medication and check everything is ok?
Has anyone else had this done??

Oh bore off Peng

LOL the sheer temerity of some of the posters on here, having a go at me for calling pharmacists 'failed doctors.'

Yet not ONE comment or personal insult aimed at anyone saying DOCTORS basically don't know what they're doing, and the pharmacist knows MORE. So after a bunch of rude and negative comments people have been spewing up on here about DOCTORS, no-one says anything, but you all jump on me for ONE comment about pharmacists. Typical mumsnet double standards!

After almost a decade of training and slogging to pass exams and achieve lots of specialist medical knowledge, and working at the same time for some of it (to get the experience,) doctors don't really know much..... and people would rather go to their pharmacist. Wow!

I am not saying they don't know stuff, but to suggest they know more than doctors is actually quite hilarious. If they DID know as much as doctors, and they had achieved the same academically, they would have BEEN doctors! That is true for the majority of them. Maybe hard to accept, but it is......

FINE, go to your pharmacist if you want, if you think they know soooooooo much more than the bloody DOCTORS! And go ahead and have your medical reviews... and waste half an hour of your life in a little hot room whilst they ask you lots of questions that you would have already been asked at your medical review AT THE DOCTORS so they can get their £25! But there is no need to slag off hard working and frazzled doctors who have worked tirelessly for YEARS (a lot harder than any of you lot slating them!) to get to their position!

I won't repeat some of the nasty personal attacks, coz I can't be arsed, but yep, lots of personal insults, and me being called sneery, rude, and unpleasant.

All I will say is sing the praises of pharmacists - if it floats your boat, and - but quit the snarky comments aimed at doctors, (suggesting they basically know fuckall, and pharmacists know more!) But lay off the personal attacks - against them AND me.

Hiding the thread now, and my notifications are switched off, so rant away at me, I shan't see it!

I have used Boots for years both for myself and ds and we have never had a review!

@redandyellowandpinkandgreen99 you don't seem to have read the replies properly. Plenty of people said Pharmacists know more than doctors ABOUT MEDICATIONS which is true. They both get different qualifications for different jobs, but I wont waste my time trying to explain this to you. Your original comment was insulting and in bad taste. Calling any professional "failed" is insulting.

Haha how sneery - my gp practice will contact the pharmacy to make sure that they are prescibing the best thing and to ensure that its the correct dose.
Not every time but if they can't answer it using bhf.
I think if I had time it wouldn't bother me, as pp said sometimes they can give better advice when to take it etc.

You can refuse this, we do and have every year that it comes up. My DH works away in the week and we are not using up valuable free time for this. My DH’s consultant reviews meds for him, the consultant is one of the top globally in this field and my DH has been using this type of of medication for over 20 years. What could the pharmacist possibly add?

Oh dear someome failed to read didn't they, what a shame.

Like has already been said pharmacists know more about medication and drugs and how they react together seems as their whole degree and training is just on that, so yes they know mire then doctors in that regard.

As others said Pharmacists are the experts when it comes to drugs and their interactions. I would trust their judgement more than any consultant or GP when it comes to drugs. That being said if find it hard to take seriously a pharmacist who advised homeopathy....

You know, some pharmacists, like some physios, are 'failed' doctors (actually applied to medical school, but didn't make it). But the vast, vast majority never wanted to be doctors in the first place and were desperate to be a physio or a pharmacist and never applied to med school.

I'm a physio because I frankly couldn't be arsed working as hard as doctors do, and was very interested in sports injuries. I'm now not interested in sports injuries, but love my job and wouldn't be a doctor for anything.

I would always discuss meds with a pharmacist rather than a doctor, just as I would always consult another physio rather than a doctor if I had musculoskeletal pain. As others have said, certain professionals are the specialists in their field.

@redandyellowandpinkandgreen99

You really don't seem to understand. Doctors are the experts in anatomy and physiology and diagnosing illness. They can figure out what is wrong with you.

That's one step.

The next step is treaty. When the treatment involves drugs, they know what to use by reading up information from pharmacology companies. It's the immunplogists, pharmafologist etc who develop and research treatments, along with doctors. But your GP has most likely not been involved in the development of a drug. They simply prescribe the drug most commonly used for your illness.

The paharmacts entire job is drugs. They study them, read about them, keep up to date with side effect and new replactemt drugs. Your GP won't be doing that because they will be keeping up to date with medical developments and the latest illnesses. They will read about recommended treatments, but quite often do not have all the information about each drug. Your pharmacist does.

Doctors is expect in diagnosis.

Pharmacist is expert in drug interaction if you take more than one and they are up to date with newly released drugs or alternative etc.

They are different specialisites. No one is saying doctors are not experts in their own field. But the ins and outs of drug interactions are just not the speciality of your local GP.

Pharmacists have to check, indeed, but any GP who is sending a person in with a hazardous prescription in terms of drug interaction is a GP not doing their job. There is a reason. Asking about contraception is creepy.

I hate the term 'snowflake' but anyone who thinks that a medical professional asking about side effects from a medication is creepy is either an idiot or a delicate little snowflake. It doesn't matter if it's contraception or antibiotics or beta blockers. It's a medication. It is a drug you ingest which affects your biology. The effects of that need to be monitored and asked about to ensure the continued safety of the drugs.

PengAly I choose who I want to discuss my contraception with and if I don't want to discuss it with a particular GP then I won't. I don't want to discuss it with some random pharmacist, male or female, who probably won't be there next week.

A large part of the issue here appears to be that a number of pharmacists do not appear to be explaining properly what they are asking the customer to do or the purpose of such a review.

And hell would freeze over before i'd do this in my local pharmacy, far too many local busybodies working there.

There will be a review date on the prescription. Also, pharmacists often ask things like this when there is a new item on the prescription.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat so an expert on understanding drugs, interactions and side effects and the person who is responsible for safely and accurately filling your prescription is "random". The fact that they can provide you with info your GP cant doesnt matter in the slightest? I dont think you actually understand a pharmacists level of expertise or their job.

Oh I think I do PengAly. The pharmacist doesn't know me and doesn't know my history unlike my GP. As I said in a previous post the only person who can prescribe my pill is a GP, the practice nurse won't do it. The advantages outweigh the risks and the GP agrees however a pharmacist probably wouldn't. Therefore I would choose not to discuss it with a random pharmacist who, as I said, probably won't be there the following year when I pick up my next prescription.

Anyway, forgive me for being sceptical about pharmacists after being told I had a stomach bug and to take probiotics when I actually had pancreatitis.

I think people forget that Pharmacists are highly qualified professionals not the person who sells you calpol in Boots...

Surely though people can understand not wanting to discuss something personal like contraception or a sensitive medical issue with someone they aren't choosing to speak to? I can choose which GP I see (if I don't mind waiting!) but I can't choose which pharmacist to talk to. We used to have a lovely one in our local chemist and I could have talked to her about anything, but since she left there's been a different one every time I went in there. Last time I picked up my pills I actually had to tell him how many he should be giving me as he couldn't work it out!

ut then how do they expect to get over them being a stranger if they never want to have a review and discuss it? The first time a woman met her GP he was a stranger but yet she spoke to him about....People can be so precious at times. Seriously, to assume that a pharmacist asking is inappropriate just because he is male. What a sexist attitude for women to have.

agree

The discussion you had was a medicine usage review. The Pharmacist has a set target amout of patients to review each year. They should have asked if you were ok to go forward with the review. I always use the same pharmacy, only for my convenience. I see a few different Pharmacists on duty. I've had reviews done and the Pharmacist has picked up on interactions with my meds. The review was sent to my Dr and my medication was altered by my GP, and I feel the benefit. My GP had previously done a review and not picked up on my medication interactions. If you're not comfortable being so close to your medical providers, you should consider a change. Pharmacists and GPs are required to adhere to patient confidentiality.

redandyellowandpinkandgreen99
No slqgging of GP’s either, just your ridiculous judgemental comment

My own gp refused to change medicines that were making me feel wretched. The surgery has a pharmacist clinic every week and I was asked to make a appointment. She was amazing. She listened to me, reviewed all of my medicines and asked the Dr to change them. It's such a valuable service. I wouldn't like to discuss it at a chemist but love the clinic sessions. The knowledge and understanding she had was better then that of my GP who only knew the side effects listed on the screen.