Blogposts from pebblepad: An answered prayer

28 June 2010

I don't remember whether it was last night or this morning, i prayed that i'll have lots of cream to make today. Lo and behold, i made 2 creams today! 600g of cream altogether! :) One was a 100g of LPC 5% and Salicylic Acid 2% in Sorbolene Cream, the other one was a 500g of 10% Olive Oil, 2% Salicylic Acid in Sorbolene Cream.

I got to counsel the patient about the LPC and Salicylic Cream. The pharmacy owner was there with me this time, therefore i was extra nervous. Thankfully, the other pharmacist talked me through beforehand. The customer was prescribed Elocon 0.1% cream as well. So, what i told the patient was that he should put a thin layer of the Elocon cream on the affected area (which was his right elbow), and wait for a little while. After that, put the LPC and Salicylic Acid cream on it. The LPC cream can stain his clothes, so just be careful with his clothes (the pharmacy owner added: and bed linens if he applies it at night). Both needs to be applied twice a day. I didn't mention about photosensitivity and the pharmacy owner said it is alright because we don't want to give too much information to the patient, but it is most important that we give them some written information to read at home.

A lady came in and asked for two packets of Cartia 168 tablets. She said one is for her, one's for her husband. She had a heart attack 3 weeks ago and the doctor asked her to get some coated aspirin from the pharmacy. I did a mistake by asking her whether the doctor told her about the strength of aspirin she was supposed to take. She said no, and was quite worried. I called the pharmacist and the pharmacist said 100-150mg is the right dose. It suddenly dawned on me that yes, 100mg is for prevention, 300mg is for acute attacks. I was quite upset at myself actually because i know all this. I should be very sure and confident in what i know, and i shouldn't have to ask the pharmacist next time. I also asked her whether her doctor told her anything about diet and lifestyle modifications, she said the doctor told her to have a low salt, low fat diet, eat lots of fibre and quit smoking.

I also listened to the pharmacist counsel a patient about Symbicort today. She said to twist the bottom to and fro and you can hear a click, that means it's loaded. Exhale, put your mouth at the opening and inhale strongly. After loading the device, do not turn the device upside down or shake it. Also, don't exhale into the device so that it doesn't get clogged up. The last thing was to rinse his mouth after using Symbicort.

I dispensed for some more webster packs in the afternoon and that was pretty much my whole day at the pharmacy today.

The pharmacy owner introduced the forward dispensing model today, but not the full model though. What he did was to put 1-2 pharmacists at the front to receive scripts and attend to the needs of the customers at the first point of contact. He trained 2 more technicians to dispense today, so that he himself can go out to the front more often than he already is. I think he is a very wise man because he went to the talk on Thursday and he immediately made plans and introduced it today. I admire how he say he is not sure how it will work out but he will give it a go see how it goes, and make adjustments accordingly. He said that while other pharmacies are cutting down on staff, they are going to ramp up and improve their service. The pharmacy also employed a new pharmacy assistant today. I am truly impressed.

3 more days, I will miss Terry White Chemist Bairnsdale.