Usefulness of ROJoson Telemedical Consultation in Avoiding Errors in Filling Prescriptions

20apr29

Actual experience

A female patient from Los Banos with history of breast cancer consulted me via ROJoson Telemedical Consultation on April 28, 2020.

I prescribed Tamoxifen. See my prescription.

Isn't my handwriting perfectly legible?

April 29, 2020 at 1030am, she called me up / messengered me in Facebook.

She was offered this medicine "Prozelax" as a substitute for Tamoxifen which the drugstore said was not available.

It was good she did not buy it and she texted me to ask for further instruction (usefulness of telemedical consultation - she could easily reach me online even she lives far in Los Banos and in the midst of lockdown).

I said NO. Prozelax is tamsulosin, a drug usually used for prostate problem. Tamsulosin is completely different from Tamoxifen.

I told her to admonish the pharmacist of the drugstore why they were giving her a wrong substitute when the prescription was very clearly written - Tamoxifen not Tamsulosin.

Another usefulness of telemedical consultation - avoidance of errors of pharmacist's filling prescriptions.

I gave her additional reinforcing instructions:

Ask the pharmacist to call up the other branches and help her get the prescribed medicine of Tamoxifen with the specified brand as written in my prescription pad as this carries the lowest price (about P17 per tab) compared to Brand 2 (about P30 per tab) and Brand 3 (about P40 per tab).

I advised her not to readily accept the offer of the drugstore for substitute to Brand 2 or Brand 3 as they are very expensive (unless of course, the brand that I recommended is really not available anywhere in the community).

I advised her to try other drugstores like Watson and Blue Star.

Another usefulness of ROJoson's Telemedical Consultation - ROJoson's Way of compassionate care to help patients get the most cost-effective (lowest-priced yet effective) prescriptions.

ROJ@20apr29