S.T. Sweeting, DDS
The secretary of the Pharmaceutical Council has been calliing physicians and dentists to make sure they know of the provisions of the new Act which will become law in January 2011.
I was informed that we will then be alllowed to give patients only those pills of a prescription drug that the patient will take in our office, that none can be given the patient to be taken at home.
Consider this scenario: a patient has a procedure done and it is anticipated that there will be some pain after the anesthetic is no longer effective and will need 2 or 3 pills to be comfortable. They are given the 1 pill at the office. At midnight the patient is in pain again so they have to call so the dentist can see them at the office to give them another pill. At 6am they are in pain again, so the dentist is called again to meet the patient at the office for another pill. It can be done that way or the patient can be given a prescription for three pills to go and sit at the pharmacy and wait for the pharmacist to give them the three pills. We were told that there is one 24 hour pharmacy so the patient may have to travel several miles to collect 3 pills.
Here is another one: The majority of patients are anxious about dental treatment and we often give them 1 ativan to control their anxiety and it is to be taken two hours before the appointment.If the appoinment is at 8:30 I can either give them a prescription for 1 pill or I can meet them at the office at 6:30am so they can take it in my office and they can sit and wait for two hours.
Is it making sense to you yet?
Motrin 600 mg is a prescription item. We can no longer give them 4 or 5 to be taken at home never mind that the patient can go to any pharmacy and get, over the counter, a box of the 200 mg. tablet and take 3 every 4 hours.
Anyone who has been reading blogs on this site for a couple of years will know that I resent bureaucrats being involved in regulations and rules concerning health care and they have never worked in a clinical environment and have never seen a patient in severe distress because of pain.
We all know that there have to be regulations to control the administration of drugs but until all laws are written, and administered, with at least a reasonable measure of common sense, then government wil be the problem, not the solution.
