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A few weeks ago I attended an S2/S3 seminar organised by Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA).
I was one of ten attending pharmacists out of a potential 200 or so!!!
The purpose of the Seminar was to inform us about the pseudo-patron visits, and to educate us on the sale of S2 and S3 medicines.

The PSA must think pharmacists need to be reminded and educated about the sale of Pharmacy Medicines and Pharmacist Only Medicines.
The presenter was a well known and respected practising pharmacist.
He shared with us how he handled S2/S3 in his pharmacy.

John reminded us that the following scenario was WRONG, and we MUST NOT DO IT! …

Patient asks one of the team for Mersyndol.

* The wee lassie asks "have you had these before?"

*Mrs Patient says "yep… heaps of times.

*Wee lassie grabs Mersyndol from shelf, and heads out of dispensary holding the Mersyndol aloft saying "Mr Pharmacist, I'm just selling a Mersyndol.

* Mr Pharmacist looks up from his 50 dispensing items an hour, and sees Mrs Patient buying her weekly Mersyndol, and just nods at wee lassie.
Sale is completed.

I looked around the room and saw nine pairs off eyes looking at the floor!
I asked the Board representative for some guidance about how we could handle such requests when we are running 50/60 dispensing items an hour.
His response was a blunt "It's the LAW!"
This is, of course, correct ….. buuuutttt…..
Now we are going to have an educator and an actor driving around pharmacies, after having told us that they will visit within the next week or two.
The actor will come in and ask for something like Nurofen/Mersyndol/Ventolin etc, and see how we respond.
After the purchase he will go out to the educator, and tell him what we did/didn't do.
If we don't do it right, the educator will enter the Pharmacy and educate us!

Hmmmmmm!!??

But there's more!

My komplaint of the week is that this generic thing is out of hand.
I find it very hard to handle - pharmacies have different policies, and use different generics
It is causing errors and confusion with both patients and pharmacists.
The packaging, changes in packaging, and the weird and wonderful names is out of control, and is certainly not benefiting the image of Pharmacy.

And if the above were not enough, the girls in the front of the shop massaged my ego with some tough humour. It's been a bad week!

Assistant 1
* My husband came home with a tube of KY jelly and said,
"This will make you happy tonight."
He was right.
When he went out of the bedroom, I squirted it all over the doorknobs.
He couldn't get back in.

Assistant 2
"It's just too hot to wear clothes today," Jack says as he stepped out of the shower.
"Honey, what do you think the neighbors would think if I mowed the lawn like this?"
"Probably that I married you for your money," she replied.

Assistant 3
Q: What must a woman do when a man is running around in circles?
A: Reload and continue shooting.

Assistant 4
Q: Why can't men get Mad Cow Disease?
A: Because it only attacks the brain.

Assistant 5
Q: What do you call an intelligent, good looking, sensitive man?
A: A rumour.

Assistant 6
A couple is lying in bed.
The man says, "I am going to make you the happiest woman in the world"
The woman says ,"I will surely miss you".

And there you have it.
But someone has to do the job!

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Editor's Note:
With a unique brand of humour, a capacity for expecting the unexpected and a high degree of professionalism, it is obvious that Roy is providing a first class service as a locum.
I am sure there are a number of prospective employers who would like to meet him. He now has a website located at: http://www.computachem.com.au/locums/RoyStevenson.html
You can arrange more information, and a locum booking, from this site.

Roy S.Stevenson Ph.C. M.P.S.,
Locum Pharmacist
40 Northminster Way
RATHMINES 2283.
Tel 4975 5548 Mob. 0402 406 691 Fax 0249 75 2334
ABN 11 585 465 385

Also, check out the human resource and employment sections located in the Computachem site.

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