Excuse Me, Can I Buy Dry Ice From You?

Yes, somebody came to my pharmacy asking for dry ice. Stunned my senior and I for awhile before we realised that she may not actually want to buy dry ice. After some clarification, it was a cold compress that she wanted for her son's leg. Sent her to the main pharmacy to pick up the item, but my senior and I had a good laugh after she left.

Why Do I Even Need to be Licensed?

Somebody sent a pre-registration pharmacist down to the Controlled Drug (CD) store to collect CD. In case you do not know, I am referring to drugs such as morphine, pethidine, and methylphenidate.

Anyways, the procuring of CD is bounded by stringent law. How on earth a principle pharmacist and registered pharmacist can think it is okay for a pre-reg pharmacist to draw CD from the CD store is beyond me. In the first place whoever signs out for the CD is accountable for it; the license is at stake here. Pre-reg pharmacists do not hold licenses, so how are they suppose to be held accountable should there be any loss in the CD?!

As time passes, people happily forget about this sentence in the law which states pre-reg can collect CD only "under the supervision of a registered pharmacist." It is under the supervision. It does not mean you can send the pre-reg to pick up the CD by him/herself. *roll my eyes*

Legal Requirement Vs Work Process

Another fine example of Singaporean stupidity.

This man's mom lost her prescription, and ran out of medicine. Problem: her next appointment is in half a year's time and under the Poisons Act and Medicines Act we are not allowed to dispense without a prescription. Tried explaining to the son that I cannot give him any medicine without a prescription as it is a legal requirement, but he kept asking me if there is a record on our computer system that showed the balance medicine on her mother's prescription.

Look stupid, I have already said many times that we do have a record, but the record is only to facilitate our work process, ie it cuts down the processing time as we do not have to re-key all the medicine prescribed. It DOES NOT replace the requirement for a legally valid prescription. Besides, if I were to dispense without a prescription, I will probably lose my licence. Much as I hate my job, I do not want to leave it in this manner.

Stupid man kept saying he understood the need for a prescription, but then turned around and say it is essentially the work process that I cannot get around. If I can be flexible with the work process then I can give him the medicine. What a total retard! Essentially he did not understand a single word of what I had said.

The keeping of a record on our computer system is part of a work process. Anybody practising in pharmacy uses a computer system to track their patients' past medicine usage, it does not mean you can just waltz in and start saying stupid things like "Oh you have my record, just give me the medicine." Which program I use, and how I process the prescription is essentially part of the work process. The law does not dictate anything about how I should go about doing it. The actual dispensing and sale of medicine to a patient, this part is controlled by the law. This is not a work process. It is something that is uniformly practised throughout the whole of Singapore by all pharmacists. Without a prescription, you can talk till the cows come home, and nobody would dispense a single thing to you.

To end off, he said, "Do you know from a layman point of view, this whole thing sounds stupid. How do I know that I need a prescription for the purchase of the medicine." I am very sorry if the law sounds stupid to you, but it is for the safety of the masses who are not trained doctors or pharmacists. Medicines are all poisons unless used correctly, and licensed doctors and pharmacists are people who are trained to use the medicine properly. I am bounded by the law, am not above the law, and the only thing I can help it to ask the clinic to get another doctor to write a prescription for the medicine. Other than that do not expect to give you any prescription-only medicine without a prescription!