W4 Sale and Supply of Medicines Flashcards
Inc lectures OTC, POM, Packaging Labelling and Leaflets
Examples of self selected medicines: (5)
OTC medicines (GSL & P)
Herbal products
Vitamins
Dietary supplements
Recreational drugs (alcohol and tobacco)
What is the Human medicines regulations 2012? (4)
The regulation for…
Regulation for:
- Authorisation of medicinal products for human use
- Manufacture, import, distribution, sale and supply
- Labelling and advertising
- Pharmacovigilance
What does licensing tell us?
Marketing authorisation (formerly known as a Product Licence)
* Safety, quality and efficacy
Includes whether the product is to be available:
* only on prescription
* only from a pharmacy
* on general sale.
Where can GSL medicines be sold?
What are the conditions?
- Can always be sold from pharmacies
- But, can be sold from other places e.g. Retail, newsagents, supermarket vending machine provided;
- The premises can be closed to the public
- The medicine was packaged elsewhere
- Outer packaging has not been opened
What is a GSL medicine?
Used for?
A general sales list medicine.
Taken for common, easily recognised ailments
* Ailments which usually last around 2–3 days
* These medicines cause few troublesome side effects in normal use.
Examples of GSL medicines?
Ibuprofen 200,400,600mg
Paracetamol
Flu medication
Examples of P medicines?
Co-codamol
Lunox
Hydrocortisone cream 1% w/w
What is a P medicine?
Where are they obtained from? (condition)
What are they used for?
A ‘Pharmacy medicine’
- Can only be bought from pharmacies and under a pharmacists supervision (an intermediate level of control)
- Not accessible to the public by self-selection
- Sold from a registered pharmacy premises by a pharmacist or a person acting under the supervision of a pharmacist
- For short term treatment of medical conditions
- For management of some long-term conditions
What is a POM?
A prescription-only medication.
- Has to be prescribed by a doctor or authorised HCP and has to be dispensed from a pharmacy or another specifically licensed place.
What are OTC?
- Over the counter medicines (informal term)
-Referred to as this but includes GSL and P medicines (not POM) - No prescription needed
Why are there categories for medicines:
What are the benefits and barriers to buying them from off-license/otc?
Benefits?
- Quick relief of the disorder
- Individual can exercise more autonomy and choice
- Rapid and convenient access to medicines
Barriers?
- Potentially troublesome or serious side effects
- Possibility of misdiagnosis and delay in correct treatment
- Potential harm for incorrect use
Which 4 pharmacy staff (in comm) can supply these medicines?
- MCAs (Medicine Counter Assistants)
- Dispensing/Pharmacy assistant
- Pharmacy technicians
- ACTS (Accuracy Checking Technicians)
What is a MCA and what do they do?
Medicine Counter Assistant
- Sale of non-prescription medicines, receipt of
prescriptions, handing out of completed dispensed items and giving advice on health matters.
What does a Pharmacy assistant do? (in a nutshell)
Functions involved in dispensing.
What does a pharmacy technician do?
Technical functions involved in the preparation and supply and dispensing of medicines. They are also qualified to sell OTC medicines and provide information to customers
What do ACTs do?
Accuracy Checking Technicians (ACTs) check the accuracy of prescriptions dispensed by another
staff member before the medicines are given out to patients.
What are the legal issues surrounding pseudoephedrine and ephedrine?
- They are decongestant medicines.
- Used in the production of methylamphetamine (crystal meth)
- legal restrictions on the quantities that can be sold
“It is unlawful to supply a product or combination of products that contain more than 720mg of pseudoephedrine OR 180mg of ephedrine at any one time, without a prescription”
(Human Medicines Regulations 2012)
“It is unlawful to sell or supply any pseudoephedrine product at the same time as an ephedrine product without a prescription”
(Human Medicines Regulations 2012).
What are the signs of possible misuse of medication? (7)
(Abusing services)
- Lack of symptoms
- Rehearsed answers
- Being Opportunistic
- Asking for Specific products
- Paraphernalia- Asking for drugs that can be used to make illicit drugs
- Asking for Quantities
- Frequency (High)
What are the professional and legal issues surrounding paracetamol and aspirin?
Paracetamol and Aspirin
- POM, P and general sale medicines depending upon pack size and formulation
- Not more than 100 non effervescent tablets or capsules can be sold to a person at any one time.
- Since most OTC pack sizes are for 16 or 32-dose units, this means that, in practice, 96 is the maximum number that can be sold. Paracetamol and Aspirin
- There are no legal limits on the quantity of OTC effervescent tablets, powders, granules* or liquids* that can be sold to a person at any one time. *=Paracetamol only
- Use professional judgement to decide the appropriate quantity to supply and what limits to impose.
What are the professional and legal issues surrounding codeine and dihydrocodeine?
(2)
Codeine and dihydrocodeine
* Short-term treatment of acute, moderate pain that is not relieved by paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin alone
* No more than 32 unit doses
* Warning label: “Can cause addiction. For three days use only”