Do you think pharmcists should have more roles and responsibilities?

Poll

Should pharmacists be given more roles i.e cancer screening, HIV testing and more?

Do you think pharmists should be allowed to examine people for cancers, HIV etc and give injections becuase they are now allowed to test for diabetes and blood pressure or do u think they should leave this to doctors? The reason im saying this is they pretty much know how the body works inside out and they could have more role with the patients after doing an additional short course qualification or somthing? It will certainly make the pharmacists feel more valued and respected and will make them more involved into maintaining good health and wellbeing of patients.

Please vote and give your opinions

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Reply 1

prospectivEEconomist

16

na leave them as dispensers.

Reply 2

petzneo

15

yes, definitely. Why waste 4 years of a degree behind a dispensary? We can do plenty more to help the NHS

Reply 3

[ I R I S ]

They have degrees in Pharmacy not Medicine. If we want to make them feel valued we could always up their pay. xD

Reply 4

Toiletpaper8

13

They are kind of over qualified for what they do, I think.

Reply 5

Reagan Smash

Yes! they are over qualified and over paid for what they do! Give them more responsibility.

Reply 6

Scotsman1988

1

Pharmacists are specialist in their area

Reply 7

b9muslove

1

Toiletpaper8

They are kind of over qualified for what they do, I think.

I totally agree, they should be allowed to do so much more

Reply 8

petzneo

15

Reagan Smash

Yes! they are over qualified and over paid for what they do! Give them more responsibility.

Please tell me you mean under paid, because we are certainly not over paid...

Reply 9

Random.Girl

14

prospectivEEconomist

na leave them as dispensers.

Pharmacists aren't dispensers - that's a different job :s-smilie:

Most pharmacists (unless they're community pharmacists who work solely in the dispensary alone) don't dispense on a regular basis.

Reply 10

prospectivEEconomist

16

-Emmz-

Pharmacists aren't dispensers - that's a different job :s-smilie:

Most pharmacists (unless they're community pharmacists who work solely in the dispensary alone) don't dispense on a regular basis.

oh..what do those pharmacists in boots do then?

Reply 11

TigerSwift

6

I think pharmacists should be allowed to do a lot more - seeing as the degree is a lot more clinically based that it used to be and technicians now do most (if not all) of the dispensing in pharmacies.

Diabetes and blood pressure is good, and allergy testing is coming out - even chlamydia treatment is being managed by pharmacists now: press release!

The new white paper already highlights areas that pharmacists are more than qualified to manage, such as injections and minor ailment schemes (some of which are already underway). These are areas that a Dr should not have to bother with, as they should be focusing on the patients with worse illnesses.

I do not think however that pharmacists should be diagnosing HIV and Cancer and such like. Pharmacists are not fully trained diagnosticians unlike Drs. Pharmacists can learn to diagnose certain ailments, which are easy to diagnose and treat, but the rest we should leave for nurses and doctors.

Reply 12

member9876

11

I agree^ but nurses? you got to be kidding. They aren't as 'great' as people make them out to be.

Reply 13

TigerSwift

6

member9876

I agree^ but nurses? you got to be kidding. They aren't as 'great' as people make them out to be.

Nurses work damned hard and get paid less that pharmacists usually. The usual ward nurse may no be given such roles, but those that work in GP surgeries and health centres are different.

The key is to form a multi-disciplinary team to make sure the patient gets the best outcome there is. That is why pharmacists should be able to do more, especially community pharmacists as pharmacies are far more accessible than GP surgeries.

Reply 14

dr junior

OP

5

Reagan Smash

Yes! they are over qualified and over paid for what they do! Give them more responsibility.

Omg are u serious!! I agree they are over qualified BUT OVER PAID, now u got to be joking. Infact i believe they are underpaid quite frankly, And u believe to give them more responsibilities with this underpaid wage? I mean this in the nicest way as possible, I hope u dont become Prime minister or health secretary cos im sure not voting for if u do!! :mad:

Reply 15

p_scrub

We are overpaid for what we do, but GPs are worse in the aspect.

Giving us more responsibilities will earn us more respect than being famed for 'counting tablets', 'tidying shelves' and 'get rich' at the same time.

Reply 16

Reagan Smash

dr junior

Omg are u serious!! I agree they are over qualified BUT OVER PAID, now u got to be joking. Infact i believe they are underpaid quite frankly, And u believe to give them more responsibilities with this underpaid wage?

I'm not an expert on what Pharmacists do but from what I've seen they sure are over qualified. So yeah I do believe that they should be given more responsibilities. Depending on how many more responsibilities they get given then they should get paid more but tbh, I wouldn't say that the majority are underpaid.

dr junior