3. Label the prescription
4. Assemble each prescription
5. Each completed prescription should then be double checked by both the pharmacist and dispenser/dispensary assistant.
6. These items and prescriptions are immediately stored in the CD cupboard.
Supervising process:
1. Once a subutex/methadone patient presents at the pharmacy, the patient’s identity should be confirmed, if a locum present, identity should be confirmed by dispenser/dispensary assistant.
2. Greet patient
3. Remove the presenting patient’s medication from the CD cupboard and indicate on their prescription that their medication has been dispensed. With Y next to the corresponding date.
4. If subutex, remove medication from packaging. If methadone leave medication in dispensing
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As these patients have restricted access to their medications they are also less likely to misuse. I also believe that being supervised by a pharmacist is very beneficial to the patient in terms of the potential additional counselling available, when comparing this with unsupervised drug replacement therapy. When present in the consultation room one on one with the pharmacist this enables the patient to find out information regarding the drug, for example side effects. E.g. A new patient came to the pharmacy as he was getting severe sweats and didn’t want to take the drug anymore, as he was telling this to the pharmacist they were able to reassure the patient that this was a very common side effect, had this been unsupervised I believe there is a high risk of some patients being unaware of this, and in turn stop taking their medications leading to a higher risk of …show more content…
As economic factors play a role in health inequalities and proof being provided that drug addiction is linked to lower economic status, having services such as supervised drug therapy could help benefit public health by reducing these inequalities.
The NHS can also benefit from this service at it reduces the burden on other NHS providers. (April Shaw, 2007) states that when an appropriate professional supervises the consumption the best guarantee that the medicine is being consumed adequately. A community pharmacy can help ensure that regular contact and communication with a healthcare profession is maintained, which can lead to taking the burden off certain