The ignorance continues...: Standing in the... - Thyroid UK

Thyroid UK

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The ignorance continues...

serenfach profile image
12 Replies

Standing in the chemist, waiting and waiting for a prescription that had gone missing, I asked the Pharmacist (who looked about 14), who was just standing around, whether they dispense many prescriptions for Liothyronine.

"No, thats old fashioned and does not work. Drugs like that are being discontinued".

I was a bit fed up as I had waited a while and rather more sharply than I wanted replied that it is not a drug, it is a hormone that is circulating in your body right now, you would be dead without it. At that point he sidled away and they found the prescription.

Realistically he had probably been qualified a few years, and he knew it was for thyroid. I wonder if that is what they are taught now?

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serenfach profile image
serenfach
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12 Replies

god that’s terrifying.

TiggerMe profile image
TiggerMe

😨

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministratorThyroid UK

Not as old-fashioned as human thyroid glands producing thyroid hormones! (Yes, T4 and T3.) Been doing that for, umm, a very, very long time. Depending entirely on when you define the start of humans.

RedApple profile image
RedAppleAdministrator

I wonder whether he was actually confusing liothyronine with desiccated thyroid? That would be more in keeping with the descriptor 'old fashioned'.

in reply to RedApple

If he was confusing the two he’s clearly making a brilliant, budding pharmacist 🙈 🥴

Rapunzel profile image
Rapunzel

lynmynott I think we should ask the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), on behalf of the huge Thyroid UK cohort, if this is what's trotted out to student pharmacists. I'd ask myself but we have more clout as a group, surely?

serenfach profile image
serenfach

He may have qualified abroad...

While I was waiting, they were discussing a possible drug interaction for a prescription. I now know the patients name and address, what drugs she is taking, her consultant in the oncology ward in Swansea and other details...

If they felt free to discuss this in front of customers, who is to say they have not done the same about me. I may drop a note through the door to remind them of client confidentiality.

Sparklingsunshine profile image
Sparklingsunshine in reply to serenfach

That seems very unprofessional 😠

Zephyrbear profile image
Zephyrbear

It’s enough to make a saint despair isn’t it? WTF are they actually teaching these people??? 🤬

Polo22 profile image
Polo22

I have been given another persons meds before today. Only realised when I got home, rang told them and took them back. No drama, no apologies, just as well it was me there were so rather heavy duty pain meds and hypnotics, looked like end of life type meds, really hope the person wasn't in a hurry for them. They would have gone down well with the local drug addicts

Vvap profile image
Vvap

Just minor, but the term drugs in a pharmacy is synonymous with medication. It’s commonly used to mean any prescribed medicine.

Young, dumb, and unforgiveably incompetent revealing personal details/medications to the public.

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