Who would be more qualified to prescribe medicine, your doctor or the phamacist? While your family physician may know what the health problem is, would he be more knowledgeable about the prescription medicine he is prescribing for you, or the pharmacist? I think i would trust the pharmacist opinion, over my family physicians, as he would know more about the prescription medicine than the physician. I would be interested in your thoughts on this.
I think they go hand in hand. Obviously the pharmacist knows more about the med but your dr knows more about you and what your problem is.
The doctor may be taking other health factors into consideration when prescribing a drug that the pharmacist does not even know you have. Therefore, I am tempted to go with the doctor although its hard to generalize.
As far as I know, pharmacists are not able to prescribe medications -- your doctor would need to do that -- but pharmacists are an excellent and underused source of information about medication. Of course, that will differ from country to country.
Doctors only know what they have been taught in medical school which is funded and controlled by the pharmaceutical companies and they learn about drugs. They updated information is the drug rep that makes a call to his office who is a sales man and not a physician. The danger is there is no studies on multiple drugs so if the doctor gives you more than one drug there is no study to say how they will interact You pharmacist is more open minded and more aware of interactions of drugs and if you are lucky enough to find a compounding pharmacist who has even more idea of what is going on.
I have a Pharmacist internet friend living in Northern Utah. He is quite well-versed in Chemistry in general, and specifically how drugs react individually and combined. He will recommend over the counter remedies without hesitation, which most Pharmacists will do. Now, my current doctor is a D.O. True to the "theory", he is more aloof, thinking, evaluating, taking adequate time, than the usual M.D. My opinion only. When I needed an effective antibiotic for a bladder infection, after I had told him I tried Cipro which I had on hand, he remarked that would have been his first choice, too. He gave me analternate med, Trimethoprim, which he had tablets of i n a big bottle. He put about 20 in a typical little prescription bottle which was unmarked, took a black felt-tip and scribbled the drug name on the bottle, nothing else! I suspect he violated the law. Told me take 1 every 12 hours. Saved me the cost of chasing down the stuff via prescription, and paying for it! I really like this guy! I suspect he subscribes to my "Signature" advice. Frank
I'd have to go with the doctor. They know what to prescribe and in which dosage. Often there are factors about your health that determine whether or not you can take a certain prescription. While a pharmacist may know every little thing there is to know about a medication, everyone's needs are different and only the doc has your medical history.
Doctors prescribe medication for you with the knowledge of your background and checkup information and the pharmacist only is for questions about it. Let's say you want to take a herb with your medication I'd ask the doctor and pharmacist about it. I recently did ask about my cholesterol medication if I could mix it with an herb, my doctor said take it at your own risk for too low LDL is not good. So I took only my medication which was prescribed for me for too high LDL cholesterol. You can ask your doctor about medications too. The place where medication is picked up is with your licensed pharmacist. Your medication is strong and can only be gotten by your licensed pharmacist. You can ask about interaction and other general question about the medication or what kind of over the counter medication is safe if you have a heart condition etc. Your doctor is the one to ask mainly about your medication and condition though.
Ahhh, you folks are blasting me with information which is only intended for my own good! And I appreciate that. I always seem to head out towards the negative aspects while accepting the positive ones. Thank you! Frank
I feel it varies, a good pharmacist often has a superior knowledge of drug interactions, and there is a saying in the UK that a pharmacist is often a failed or frustrated doctor at heart, so they have a good general knowledge of the body as well as a specialised one in the drugs field. My mother suffered a damaged heart valve as a result of being mistakenly being prescribed two drugs, because of their negative interaction. A pharmacist eventually flagged this up, but it was too late by then.
My sister is a nurse who have studied pharmacy and her husband is a physician. My mother who had a stroke lives with them. When it comes to medicine, it is my sister who decides although she would consult her husband for a confirmation. As I see it, my sister is more knowledgeable when it comes to medications concerning my mother since she knows the underlying conditions and other considerations. With a pharmacist, all he could see is the prescription while the doctor was the one who did the checkup and interview. So for ordinary cases, it is the doctor who should prevail.