..Information to Pharmacists
_______________________________
Your Monthly E-Magazine
NOVEMBER, 2003

ANDREW SNOW

Pre-Registration Pharmacist Perspective
Reaching the End of a Long Journey

The year of being a graduate student is hopefully almost over……………………
This has been one of the most exhausting years of my life, combining work and study.
The current requirements to become a registered pharmacist after obtaining a bachelor of pharmacy includes two major assignments, attending two tutorial sessions where you need to make presentations, doing a four month case study on a patient at the pharmacy, 10 CPE points, 2000 working hours, First Aid Course, a written exam and an oral exam!
This is a difficult achievement when working long hours on top of these studies.

My major concern for exerting such stress on students is the current relationship between universities and the pharmacy board. After pharmacy was extended to a four year degree in the last four years, there is still the need to study endlessly after completing the course. It gives the feeling that the pharmacy board gives little credit for obtaining the bachelor of pharmacy, and require you to prove again that you have learnt a lot of material. It makes sense in my mind that if you have shown that you can pass four years of the degree, you can now work as a pharmacist. Still, I believe practical experience is important, and this could have been incorporated more into the extra year that was added to the course. (I feel better now because I have released some frustration….)

Seeing that I am in the full study mode, I thought I would remind you of some of the most common drug interactions that us as pharmacists should set off alarm bells in our minds:

f Warfarin levels increased by: Erythromycin, Amiodarone, Aspirin, NSAIDs, Ciprofloxacin, Metronidazole, Ketoconazole, and Allopurinol

f Warfarin levels decreased by: Vitamin K, and Carbamazepine

f Digoxin levels increased by: Amiodarone, Diltiazem, Erythromycin, and Verapamil

f Digoxin levels decreased by: Phenytoin

f Lithium levels increased by: NSAIDs and high sodium intake

f Sodium Valproate levels decreased by: Phenytoin, and Carbamazepine

f Carbamazepine levels increased by: Erythromycin and Verapamil

f Theophylline levels decreased by: Phenytoin.

Other important information to learn for the exams are all the new drugs that have been released on the market. I have made a list to learn of about forty drugs, and I will list some of the main ones which I think are most important. To make a list was time consuming, reading all new journals and keeping track of all the new drugs listed in each.

f Eprosartan (Hypertension)

f Bosentan (Hypertension)

f Brimonidine (Glaucoma)

f Bimatoprost (Glaucoma)

f Levitiracetam (Epilepsy)

f Oxcarbazepine (Epilepsy)

f Omalizumab (Asthma)

f Tegaserod (IBS)

f Memantadine (Alzheimer’s)

f Modafinil (Narcolepsy)

f Paracoxib (Post operative analgesia)

f Reboxetine (Depression)

f Pimecrolimus (Elidel).

So far in my training, I have completed each requirement except the FINAL oral exam. Hopefully I will be sitting this in a months time! Being registered is something I can not wait to achieve, finally completing the five year course! If you are aware of anyone who needs a keen young pharmacist in Sydney, please let me know and I would take pleasure in having a chat! Call me anytime on 0403 480 334.

Thankyou ,

Andrew Snow.