I have been down this path before, but I shall visit it again because of changing circumstances - or should I say because some people perceive that things have changed. Nurses, particularly those in the outback where there is no general practitioner have been given prescribing rights by the Federal Government.
This is a great move forward. Doctors cannot be drawn to the bush no matter haw much they are paid. These nurses save lives. Indeed, they even do serious operations as they are the only ones who can help in an emergency. They should be paid just as much as doctors. They are providing medical services almost equivalent to General Practitioners living in rural communities and helping in any way they can.
What is irksome is that some other "professionals" are getting on the band wagon and demanding rights they surely do not deserve. Pharmacists are condemning midwives and want to take away their authority to prescribe in order to gain the right for pharmacists to prescribe "willy nilly" as defacto doctors. Pharmacists are no more than glorified clerks. Anyone can distribute medications particularly as 99 per cent of drugs are prepackaged in factories. What advice do you get from a chemist - nothing more nor less than what is written on the packet. They often do take liberties and give patients "near enough" medications when they run out of a particular line so as not to lose profit. They do have a vested interest in convincing patients to pay for more expensive medications.
As I have said before, pharmacists learn chemistry in great depth. They do not need such intensive training in one discipline to provide medicines. When has a pharmacist been sued for giving the wrong medicine? They are not held to account and mistakes do occur, but doctors are held responsible. It is like expecting jet pilots to have physics degrees. Pharmacists are over-qualified and this should not be rewarded. If they are to deal with people directly in the prescribing process they should have relevant communication courses in their training program.
This is a great move forward. Doctors cannot be drawn to the bush no matter haw much they are paid. These nurses save lives. Indeed, they even do serious operations as they are the only ones who can help in an emergency. They should be paid just as much as doctors. They are providing medical services almost equivalent to General Practitioners living in rural communities and helping in any way they can.
What is irksome is that some other "professionals" are getting on the band wagon and demanding rights they surely do not deserve. Pharmacists are condemning midwives and want to take away their authority to prescribe in order to gain the right for pharmacists to prescribe "willy nilly" as defacto doctors. Pharmacists are no more than glorified clerks. Anyone can distribute medications particularly as 99 per cent of drugs are prepackaged in factories. What advice do you get from a chemist - nothing more nor less than what is written on the packet. They often do take liberties and give patients "near enough" medications when they run out of a particular line so as not to lose profit. They do have a vested interest in convincing patients to pay for more expensive medications.
As I have said before, pharmacists learn chemistry in great depth. They do not need such intensive training in one discipline to provide medicines. When has a pharmacist been sued for giving the wrong medicine? They are not held to account and mistakes do occur, but doctors are held responsible. It is like expecting jet pilots to have physics degrees. Pharmacists are over-qualified and this should not be rewarded. If they are to deal with people directly in the prescribing process they should have relevant communication courses in their training program.
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