Oath of a Pharmacist

I vow to devote my professional life to the service of all humankind through the profession of Pharmacy above other considerations.

I will consider the welfare of humanity and relief of human suffering through optimal drug therapy and the best pharmaceutical care.

I will keep abreast of developments and the latest pharmaceutical care to assure the best care to the community and other healthcare providers.

I shall strive to perfect and enlarge my knowledge to contribute to the advancement of pharmacy profession.

I will maintain the highest principles of moral, ethical and legal conduct.

May I prosper and live long in favor as I keep and hold to this oath and support the professional law.

I take these vows voluntarily with full realization of the responsibility with which I am entrusted by the people of Malaysia.


Pharmacy Students’ Oath Committee,

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences,

Universiti Sains Malaysia

August 2004.

Sources: http://www.pha.usm.my/pharmacy/OATH%20OF%20A%20PHARMACIST.htm

Diamond Water Filter

I came across this Hong Kong news about Diamond Water Filter in YouTube. Anyone got this system installed at home?



No comment......

Microlife Automatic Blood Pressure Monitor

The antihypertensive (lowering blood pressure) therapy has been associated with 35%-40% reduction in stroke inciden, 20-25% reduction in myocardiac infarction (heart attack) and >50% reduction in heart failure. One must know this is a serious medical conditions and it should be treated promptly.

Here in pharmalogik, we carry an inexpensive yet reliable machine to test your blood pressure.

Microlife BP 3AG1












Features
High Accuracy
Easy To Use
One Touch Operation
Fuzzy Logic Technology
Memory
Oscillometric measuring method
3 years warranty
Clinically Tested BHS a/a- accoding to British Hypertension Society ProtocolQuality Seal from German Hypertension Society
Made in Switzerland (Quality assurance)

Promotion
Free
4x AA batteries (will last more than a year)
1x Life Time Warranty Digital Pen Type Thermometer (Beeper Function+1 data memory+ 60 sec fast time testing)

Manual download http://www.mldata.ria.ch/all_img/pdf/IB%20BP%203AG1%20EN-FR-ES-RU-TR%203405.pdf

Pharmalogik is now offering the machine at a very attractive price. Email me for more info. Delivery can be done via pos laju. Buyers will need to deposit money into Maybank account. Or you can search for counterp2 at www.lelong.com.my for list of things i sell.

Diet Myth

I came accross Diet tips posted by Joy Bauer at http://www.joybauernutrition.com. It is very informative and for all my customers who ask me about diet questions, you can find all your answer below.

• If you eat late at night, the food turns straight into fat.
  Not true.If your overall calories are appropriate for weight loss, you certainly can eat something after dinner. Late night calories will ultimately get used the next day (and even while you sleep).
  
  However, for the sake of energy, it is always better to eat your calories during the day when your body needs the fuel. Plus, eating consistently throughout the day will stabilize blood sugar levels -- so you’ll feel energized and experience fewer cravings. If you are going to snack after dinner, I suggest choosing something 250 calories or less.
  
  
• Fresh fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than frozen.
  Not necessarily. Frozen can be a great produce option (just avoid varieties with added salt, sugar, and sauce). Frozen foods are picked in the peak of ripeness, then frozen. You can eat them as you need them -- and most of the nutrients are locked in. On the other hand, fresh fruit and vegetables are typically harvested before they ripen, and can have nutrient variability. Also, the longer fresh produce sits around in your fridge, the less nutrients it will contain.
  Bottom line: Buy both fresh and frozen and eat as much as you can.
  
  
• Cravings are your body's way of telling you it needs something.
  This has never been proven. You normally crave what you like to eat (or smell or see someone else eating). Also, hormonal changes are sometimes responsible for food cravings. Ice cream and pickles anyone?
  
  
• Any type of water is always better than soda.
  No. There are a few caloric waters with sexy marketing ploys. In fact, some brands have quite a bit of sugar. Always check labels.
  
  
• Certain foods, like grapefruit, celery, or cabbage soup can burn fat and make you lose weight.
  These are anecdotal stories that have no scientific back up. It’s true these foods are low in calories, but they do NOT actually burn fat.

• Exercise in the morning burns more calories.
  Studies show that people who exercise in the morning tend to be more consistent with their daily workouts. However, exercising in the morning does not actually burn more calories than exercising later in the day.
  
  
• Dairy is bloating.
  Dairy is only bloating for people with lactose intolerance… and in some instances, for people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). For people without lactose intolerance or dairy specific IBS, low-fat milk, yogurt and cheese should not cause bloating.
  
  
• You can “save” calories by skipping breakfast.
  Studies report that breakfast eaters weigh less than breakfast skippers (obviously, it has to be a healthy breakfast). Plus, breakfast skippers tend to overeat after dinner.
  
  
• Colonics help you lose weight.
  Colonics simply dehydrate you -- you may weigh less, but it’s mainly water weight NOT fat weight. Lost water weight typically comes right back on after a few glasses of fluid.
  
  
• Weight lifting makes you bulky.
  Appropriate weight lifting will not make you bulky (unless that’s your goal and your program takes this into consideration). Light weight lifting helps to increase lean body mass, which helps you burn more calories 24-7. In the end it will help you lose weight and enable you to eat more.
  
  
• The scale is your absolute best indicator of weight loss.
  Checking your weight loss progress on a scale is certainly simple and encouraging (depending upon the outcome!). However, there are other effective ways to track your progress: take body measurements with a tape measure, test body fat, compare personal photos, and assess the fit of your clothing.

Please remember that no diet can make you lose weight as effective as exercising.

Part 2- Royal jelly (10-hydroxy decenoic acid)

This part is the continuation of my post title '10-hydroxy decenoic acid fever'. Please refer below for the first part of my story.

Today I managed to see what actually they are selling. This is courtesy of one of my customer who bought the Taiwan's Royal Jelly for his son who is suffering from stroke because the promoter claimed that it will improve his brain functions.



The Royal Jelly claimed to contain 10 HDA. (But I don't see any HDA in the labelling)

When I see the indication, it is stated 'traditionally used for general health'. The contents are Freeze Dry Royal Jelly Powder 175mg, Maltodextrin 175mg and to be taken 3-5 capsules daily.

Freeze Dry Royal Jelly Powder, ok, we know what it is.


Maltodextrin??
Actually, it is a moderately sweet polysaccharide used as a food additive. It is produced from corn or barley or wheat starch. Celiac patients have to be careful if the maltodextrin was derived from wheat or barley as it can contain traces of gluten.

What are the signs and symptoms experienced by celiac patients who take gluten containing diet?
Malabsorption, weight loss and diarrhea is common but they may also suffer bloating, flatulence, steatorrhea (fatty stool), anemia, weakness, malnutrition, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, skin rashes, bone loss, or failure to thrive.

Pathological specimens of the small intestines often reveal atrophy(wasting/death) of the villi and flattening of the mucosa (this is bad)

Besides, maltodextrin can cause headaches in people sensitive to monosodium glutamate (MSG).

What we want to know is why is there a sweetener food additive inside? What is its role?

This is what i sell in my pharmacy. One is from 21st Century which contains Natural Vit E 50iu, Bee Pollen 200mg, Ginseng 200mg, Propolis 100mg, Royal Jelly 200mg and does not contain sugar, artificial colors, artificial flavours or preservatives. Costs about RM 0.50/day at max dose.

The second is from Kordels and each capsule contains Royal Jelly (6% HDA) 334mg and does not contain starch, milk derivatives, yeast, gluten, salt, artificial colouring, flavouring and preservatives. Cost about RM 1.00/day at max dose.










Now, the interesting part is the cost of this Taiwan's Royal Jelly I could say it will cost my customer more than 10 times when he take it at maximum dose /day.

What is your comments? Which brand do you prefer? Taiwan, Kordels, or 21st Century?

ASK YOUR PHARMACIST

Examples of questions

that you can ask us...

1)What is the full name of this medication and what am I taking it for?

2)Are there any potential interactions between this medication and other medications or supplements that I am already taking?

3)How long does it take for this medication to start working?

4)What are the common side effects of this medication and what should I do if I experience a side effect?

5)If my doctor prescribed a cream or ointment for a skin condition, how should the product be applied, i.e. how much, where and how often?

6)If my doctor prescribed an inhaler- what is the correct way to use the device to make sure that I am inhaling the full dose? Should the medication be taken regularly or only as needed? How can I gauge how many doses are left in the device?

Make the most of your medication by forming a

healthy partnership with your pharmacist!!

Sources: Canadian Pharmacists Association

High Blood Pressure

Have you ever seen a patient with blood pressure in this range? This is what happens.

Last two weeks, he (my client) came to check his BP and his systolic BP is in 190 range. I refer him to district hospital for follow up. So, he went to the district hospital and he was asked to check his BP every 2 days for 2 weeks, and then fill in a paper before the appointment.
No medications was taken that time.

Yesterday, around 4pm, he came and i was surprised that his BP is 210/117 mmHg. I double check with his right hand after some resting, and the result shows the same (215/122mmHg). What would you do if you're me? Therefore, I quickly refer him to the hospital and he promptly left.

At the same night, 8pm, he came back to me and told me what happened. He was attended by A& E Dr and was detained for 2 hours. During the 2 hours there, first he was given an injection (maybe labetalol inj??) and was released after BP taken 2 hours later. I believe his BP should have came down before his release.

So now, he came to my pharmacy with a prescription for Atenolol 50mg. I checked his BP, it is again 201/116mmHg and 180/114mmHg. What should i do? I already refered him to the hospital twice and it seems there is not much interventions done. My client seems to be lethargic after so much things he went through.

First visit to hospital:
Came back with a paper to be filled with two weeks BP reading for hypertension confirmation.

Second visit:
Came back with prescription for Atenolol 50mmHg and another paper to be filled with BP readings.

My advice to him:
To take atenolol 100mg on the same night and take rest. Check your BP again tomorrow and see your doctor again if it is still high.

Pharmacist quote:
Severe hypertension is defined as a diastolic BP of 115mmHg or greater. It may cause rapid and progressive end-organ damage, particularly in cardiovascular, renal and central nervous systems.

Comments?? Any better ideas?

Credibility and professionalism

How to increase professionalism?
A person will judge another person by its appearance. How true is it? For me, i think it is almost 100% true. As a professionals, appearance of cleanliness is very important. Especially in a place where medicines are kept.

Credibility?
Most of the time, the public always have the perception that young people are inexperienced. Some of them lack of confidence in our words or advice even when our words are supported my evidence eg, clinical evidence. Maybe by displaying my collections of certificates, degrees will help. Ha ha...

From this (only required by the laws)


Into THIS!!!This is my collections of certificates from attending various type of continuous pharmacy educations. I am still thinking is this sufficient, as i got some more. Let me see how the public response first.

Tough day out there

In big towns, most people know what a pharmacy is and the role of pharmacists, i.e. they can't buy medicine if the pharmacist is not around thanks to the strict regulations followed by certain pharmacies.
In small town, ??? Have you actually came across some people who totally believe in doctors, nurses, staffs in blood test centers, traditional healer, bomoh, sales person either direct selling or indirect, speakers from unknown places, friends and anybody around except pharmacist?
Not everyone but there is a small group of people that would make your day feel like hell if you can't ignore the harsh and hurting words they said to you.


Case 1
Irritating words: Got discount somemore or not? I always buy this from XXX pharmacy. The boss is my best friend, you know. He always give me special discount, not like you. I can get this for 30 sen cheaper.
My reply: Sorry, this is the lowest we can offer.
Irritating words: I know your shop sell things expensive. But i live nearby, so i come to your place. It is very hard to find parking in that place, got to pay somemore. Give somemore discountlah.....

Case 2
Irritating words: You got this medicine or not? (Showing few types of generic medicine without labels, indications, or marks on the tablets.)
My reply: What are you taking this for? We need to know the indication because there is no labels.
Irritating words: You don't know is it? Aiyoh.... you sleep in class or what? How am i supposed to know medicine? You suppose to tell me what it is.

Case3
Irritating words: Do you have this XXX (direct selling product or some unkown products)
My reply: Sorry we don't keep this. We have subsitute for this.
Irritating words: What? The pharmacy XXX keeps this. Your shop is incomplete. Everything also don't have.
My reply: (Mmmm...he/she must be a fortune teller) If you want, we can order for you. If i order now, you can get it in the evening.
Irritating words: I want it now. Haiyah, so much trouble you give me. Now i have to go to town to get it.









刀 (pisau) on the top of the word patience and 心 (heart, i got to use english here because i don't know whether to call it hati or jantung) below the word, means we got to be patience even there is a feeling like a "pisau" cutting through your heart. I still remember my malay friends used to tell me " Sabar adalah separuh daripada iman" (i can't remember exactly).

Pharmacist = drug expert?? Are we (the pharmacists) the only people to believe this as a fact? I hope not. What do the public think? How many of them actually respect us for what we are?

Body Fat Mass Percentage

My new weighing machine which also calculates body fat mass and body water percentage has finally arrive. What a machine!! Try it on for free here only in Pharma Logik.

10-hydroxy decenoic acid fever

Everybody in my town seems to be talking about it, 10-hydroxy decenoic acid…But what is it exactly? It seems to me that all retail pharmacy has been stormed by these groups of people to buy this specific ingredient. Right after I opened my pharmacy at 9.00 am on last Saturday, people already are waiting to get this specific product. I was caught by surprise how information can really spread throughout the town so fast.

My typical conversations:

Customer: Do you have this? .(Showing me that piece of paper written 10-hydroxy decenoic acid)

Me: Where do you get the name of this chemical product?

Customer: From the talk by a guy from Taiwan. He is a Traditional Chinese medicine doctor. So many people attended the talk. More than 1 thousand people has attended the talk.

Me: (Traditional Chinese Medicine Dr???, Then, why is he mentioning about some sort of chemical name??) Oh, 10-HDA is some sort of active ingredient that is available in royal jelly.

Customer: What is it used for? He says it is very good for the brain, cholesterol, blood pressure. By taking this, I even can stop taking other supplements and even medicine. He ask me to search for it in the pharmacy.

Me: What? No, Royal Jelly might lower cholesterol levels and seems to decrease some symptoms of PMS, (post menopausal symptoms) including irritability, weight increases and edema. But Royal Jelly is supplements and supplements will never replace medicine. Supplements suppose to help to strengthen the body, does not work alone if someone has the disease. Of course, if he wants to sell you his product, he can say anything. We don't even know who exactly he is. He is not a local person.

Customer: Don't you worry about that. He is not selling anything. He is just sharing with us some precious information on this 10-HDA which he himself has been consuming. Even doctors and you all pharmacists can't talk like him. He is the expert. His brother is a specialist in SJMC!

Pharma Logik have two products containing 10-HDA. 21st Century Royal Propollen and also Kordel’s Royal Jelly.

And the rest is history… All my products containing Royal Jelly sold out in that specific morning.

I personally do not believe that speaker is not selling anything. My theory is proven the next Monday as i heard from my customers that he is selling it, claiming his products is much superior comparing to ours.

Thinking back, the speaker spoke on Saturday and then ask the listener to get it from Pharmacy. With these sudden influx of customers wanting the same things, i am sure many pharmacy was caught by surprise. Demands is much higher than the stocks!!! And the pharmacy would not able to order it in time because it is SATURDAY!! Most pharmacies can only place an order on monday, and most of the time stocks will arrive in the evening. And the speaker starts selling it on Monday morning. Think again ...

My new stocks arrive on Monday evening, as i estimated. But until now i have not sell any single one of them. Luckily i did not order a lot to meet the demands.

But why is it so many people asking for it on Saturday and suddenly it has become so quiet on Monday and Tuesday? Is it has something to do with the action of my customers who brought our Royal Jelly to shows it to the speaker and the speaker has start to sells his products?
I don't know. What do you think?


In people with a history of atopy or asthma, royal jelly appears to cause a high rate of allergic symptoms including pruritus, urticaria, eczema, eyelid and facial edema, conjunctivitis, rhinorrhea, dyspnea, and asthma. In severe cases, royal jelly can cause status asthmaticus, anaphylaxis and death.


Please bear in mind Pharmacist has to follow certain Code and Conducts when we practice in community pharmacy. We do not simply quote anything which is not true and does not have clinical report to support its effectiveness.

Is the speaker bound to regulations like this? I don't think so. That is why you see Doctors and Pharmacists do not make unproven allegations about a product, where a lot of Professor and Phd holders taking this opportunity to claim otherwise.