Question

Visit one pharmacy site and answering the 3 questions that outlined below:

1) What were your expectations prior to going to the pharmacy site?

2) Was it a positive or negative experience, and WHY?

3) If you could change anything about the website, what would it be and why?

Answer 1

1-

You should receive good-quality care that helps you to improve your health and well-being.

The General Pharmaceutical Council sets standards for pharmacies to help make sure this happens.

These standards are set out under five principles, which are summarised below:

1. The pharmacy must be managed safely and effectively
2. The staff working in the pharmacy must be competent and empowered to do their roles
3. The pharmacy premises must be appropriate to provide services
4. The pharmacy must supply medicines and provide other services safely and effectively
5. The pharmacy’s equipment and facilities must be safe and effective

All pharmacists and pharmacy technicians also have to meet standards for pharmacy professionals set by the General Pharmaceutical Council. There are nine standards, and we have summarised what they mean for you as follows.

All pharmacists and pharmacy technicians must:

1. give you person-centred care
2. work in partnership with you and others involved in your care
3. communicate effectively with you
4. maintain, develop and use their professional knowledge and skills
5. use their professional judgement to act in your best interests
6. behave in a professional manner to you
7. respect and maintain your privacy and confidentiality
8. be honest with you and say sorry when things go wrong
9. demonstrate leadership, including towards other people working in the pharmacy

2- positive experience -

So here’s what happened recently. I went to the pharmacy to pick up meds for myself and my mother. One of the crinkly paper bags seemed to be heavier than usual. When I got to the car, I pulled it out and discovered that my medication — the one mentioned above that could only be given in 4 weeks supplies due to an insurance policy — was enough for 3 months. And, I was only charged a single copay.

Talk about doing a little happy dance right there in my driver’s seat. That single bag containing 12 vials of medication, rather than four, just saved me multiple trips to the store, time online and/or potential phone calls with automated systems to make sure that I have medication on hand each Friday for the next 3 months. People who have to deal with monthly refills know what a blessing this is!

3- buying medicines online carefully-

As more people use the internet to understand their health issues, some also go online to buy prescription medicine.

But many online pharmacies are unregistered, so buying from them is potentially unsafe.

Medicine, such as Viagra for erectile dysfunction, and the cholesterol-lowering medication Lipitor (Atorvastatin), are often sold cheaply online and without a GP prescription or the advice of a pharmacist.

But this is risky because medicine should only be taken under the supervision of a healthcare professional. Their guidance on whether a medicine is suitable for you, the dosage, possible side effects, and any harmful interactions with other medicines is crucial.

Medicine from an unregistered website could also be dangerous to your health because it might be out of date, diluted or fake.

For prescription-only medicines, an online pharmacy must receive a legally valid prescription before dispensing the medicine. This means you'll either need a paper prescription or an electronic prescription via the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) from a GP or another healthcare professional.

You can post the prescription yourself if you like, but an email prescription is not sufficient. Once the prescription has been received, the medicine can be dispensed and sent to you.

Alternatively, some sites offer prescriber services, where you have an online consultation and a prescription is then sent to a pharmacy for dispensing.

It can be difficult to distinguish between registered online pharmacies and other commercial websites. The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) operates an internet pharmacy logo scheme to identify legitimate online pharmacies so you can be sure you're buying safe and genuine medicines online.

Self-diagnosing

Problems arise when people diagnose their own condition, then obtain prescription medicine online without a prescription. The website supplying this medicine is acting illegally.

These are some of the things to look out for:

• Always get your medicine from a pharmacy or a reputable outlet.
• It's never a good idea to take a prescription medicine without a valid prescription. The medicine may not be suitable for you and could cause unpleasant side effects or serious health risks.
• Medicines should not be seen as regular consumer products. Fake medicine can cause real harm to your health.
• Do not be tempted by "spam" emails advertising cheap medicine. If something looks too good to be true, it usually is.
• Check for the internet pharmacy logo when buying medicine online.
• You can also check the registration status of the pharmacist by looking for the name and address of the pharmacy operating the website, as it should be connected to a "bricks and mortar" pharmacy.
• Medicine sold from disreputable websites can be poor quality at best and dangerous at worst. What you receive in the post could be counterfeit, substandard or unapproved new medicine, which can put your safety at risk.