Warnings
Ear Wax Candle
The practice of using " Ear Wax Candle Kits" is considered a dangerous process and the application of heat to the body in this way is a high risk. Therefore this practice would not be covered under the Guild/PDL Liabilities insurance cover.
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Daktarin
The manufacturers of Daktarin state "it is not to be used on babies under 6 months of age"
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Tax print out
To comply with privacy regulations please note that most dispense systems will allow you to print out lists of medication supplied for tax purposes without the drug names showing on the list. If your software does not do this contact your dispense software provider.
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Registration
The Pharmacy Board of Victoria would like to remind Pharmacists that they must register each year in accordance with Section 27(5) of the Pharmacists Act 1974. A pharmacist must also notify the Pharmacy Board of any change of residential address.
Similar requirements apply in other States and Territories in Australia.
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Umbrella branding
Umbrella branding is a marketing strategy where a popular brand name is used for marketing other products perhaps with an additional word or phrase added. It is possible that the new product either contains none of the chemical substance in the original product or the chemical mix of the new product gives it an entirely new therapeutic use to the popular brand. Ensure staff are aware of the difference in the products and store carefully.
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Reduce the risk of dispensing errors
Any pharmacist's biggest nightmare is the thought of a dispensing error which causes serious injury to a patient. Hopefully this will never happen to you. And yet it is unrealistic to expect any pharmacist to dispense 100–200 scripts a day over a working life and not make an error. Mistakes can and do happen.
Our objective must be to use every method available to minimise the chance of error. One such tool is the use of a scanner in the dispensing process to verify that what has been prescribed, and intended to be dispensed, is what has been selected off the shelf. Our statistics indicate that nearly 50 per cent of dispensing errors occur because of the wrong selection of the product or strength.
Pharmacy Boards have recognized this fact and the use of scanners in the dispensing process is either compulsory in Pharmacy Acts or included in Regulations.
If your dispensing software does not accommodate the use of a barcode scanner you should put pressure on them to modify their software to do so.
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Medical misadventure
Manufacturers of pharmaceutical preparations are being made aware that child-proof caps should be placed on all medications which are in bottles and not blister-packed.
(eg: Coumadin, Prednosone, etc). Both these containers and blister packed. Medication containers should be sealed to ensure the contents have not been compromised.
Many OTC preparations are also remiss in this area so that once the security seal is broken children may have unfettered access to the contents of these powerful medications.
Pharmacists dispensing extemporaneous medications should also use child-proof caps whenever practicable.
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Asbestos
Concern has been expressed in relation to the Asbestos exclusion currently detailed in your Schedule.
We confirm in no uncertain terms, that this exclusion does NOT apply to the treatment or advice you may provide to a patient of yours, who may have developed symptoms of mesothelioma or asbestosis.
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Narrow therapeutic index drugs
Although most medications have a wide margin of safety, a few "high-alert drugs" bear a heightened risk of causing injury when they are misused. Medications with a "narrow therapeutic index" - a very small therapeutic dose range about or below which could cause significant toxicity or sub-therapeutic levels—also bear an increased risk of causing injury when they are misused. Although errors may or may not be more common with these drugs than with others, their consequences may be more devastating. Examples of "high-alert drugs" or "narrow therapeutic index drugs" include monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, warfarin, oral hypoglycaemic agents, insulin, digoxin, opiate narcoties and many cancer drugs.
(Cohen MR, Kilo CM. High-alert medications: Safe guarding against errors. In: Cohen MR. Ed. Medication Errors. AmPharm Assoc Washington DC 1999.)
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