Does Pharmacists or MD's have more power when it comes time to prescribe medicine?

Question

I know pharmacists fill presriptions & know about all the different medicines. I also know that MD's, DDS's, etc can give out prescriptions for medicines. Is it true that no Dr can give out medication without first checking with a pharmacist to make sure its OK to prescribe it to the patient? Is it true that a pharmacist can call a Dr & tell them the medicine they prescribed is the wrong one & tell the Dr what type must be given for the patient & that the Dr must listen? Is it true that pharmacists go to school 2 years longer than any Dr? Who chooses what medicine can be treated with, the Dr or pharmacist? I'm asking because I was told that pharmcists go to school 2 years longer than Drs & that Drs can only prescribe what the pharmacist says to & ONLY pharmacists can decide what type of medicine one can recieve? Was told if a Dr give out a trial & one has any health problem or reaction with another med they can sue for the MD not checking with the pharmacist first? Is all this true?

Answer 1

Not sure where you got this information...but it's not right. Physicians write for medications after consultation and diagnosis of a patient. The pharmacist is the "watch dog"....making sure the proper medication is prescribed (Many medications may look or sound alike something else. Plus many physicians have handwriting that is hard to read.) and at the correct dose. If a pharmacist thinks something is amiss, they will consult with the physician. Also, depending on some prescription insurance plans, a pharmacist may make a suggestion of a therapeutic equivalent of a drug if the drug prescribed is not covered by the person's insurance plan.

As far as schooling goes, I believe a PharmD today is 6 years. Medical school is 4 years undergrad, followed by 3 years of medical school, followed by a residency program (3 years for pediatric residencies - not sure what it is exactly for other specialties).

You source is a little off.

Answer 2

None of this is true.

A Pharmacist can refuse to fill a prescription for various reasons (suspected forgery, worry about the welfare of the patient, etc.) But the Pharmacist cannot tell a doctor which drugs they can or cannot write for. Pharmacists also do not go to school longer than doctors.

Pharmacists will call a doctor if they think that there is a mistake on a script (it happens, even to me.) The doctor will then usually fix the problem.

Answer 3

When it comes to prescription, Doctors do the prescribing and Pharmacist do the filling of the prescription. A pharmacist cannot overide a doctor. A pharmacist may make a suggestion to a doctor if he/she suspects that the doctor made a mistake but eventually one needs to be a medical doctor in order to prescribe. Physician Assistants can also write some prescription but there is a limit to what medications they can prescribe. Medical doctors go to 4 years of Medical school, first two years are basic science education (includes anatomy, biochem, pharmacology, pathology, histology, microbiology, immunology, physiology, neuro, etc) and third and fourth years are clerkships i.e. rotations to different medical school affiliated hospitals for training in different fields like internal medicine, surgery, psychiatry, family medicine, etc. After receiving MD, which includes passing USMLE step 1 (end of 2nd year) and USMLE step 2 (end of 3rd year), one goes to residency for speciality training. Residency training can range from 3 years for Family Pratice to 7 years for Neurosurgery. Most residency programs tend to be 4 years long. One needs to pass USMLE step 3 during the residency to be eligible to receive license to practice that particular speciality at the end of the residency. So by the time we are done, we usually have lost our hair and teeth and we are bankrupt. This is why a lot of doctors look like homeless people (Sorry can't resist making a joke :-))

Answer 4

Unfortunately, situations you describe occasionally happen. Ideally, the primary concern of both the MD and the pharmacist is the welfare of the patient, not who has the most power. A reputable physician will do his or her best to properly diagnose and prescribe. A reputable pharmacist will discuss any discrepancies with the prescribing physician before filling a prescription he or she questions, but yes, can refuse to fill a prescription he / she feels to be erroneous.

Health care suffers when we obsess about power.

Answer 5

sorry but you were misinformed. pharmacists do NOT go to school 2 years more than doctors.

in certain hospital settings, pharmacies have been assigned the role of "double-checking" a physician's orders, so they may in fact call a doctor to change his medication order if there is a reason to do so (ie: overlooked allergy or medication interaction which the doctor didn't realize). sometimes the pharmacists will also try to substitute a cheaper alternative but if the doctor can justify why the patient needs the more expensive drug, they usually can get what they order.