Greetings from the U.K.!

Greetings from the U.K.!

As we are now approaching the half way point of our trip, it seems aboot (the spelling is a reference for our Canadian friends) that I posted a note on our Rotary GSE blog as well.
First of all let me just say a huge thank you to all of our Rotarian hosts and friends that we have met on this trip so far. Their hospitality has far exceeded anything that I could imagine, and they have gone to such lengths to put together a wonderful trip for us all. Thank you!

As the other members of our team have previous documented, we have been having a blast doing a wide range of activities. We are getting an in-depth cultural experience as to what daily life is like in Southern England. Everything from marvelling at grand cathedrals, walking on ancient Roman roads, feasting on fine English meals of lamb shanks and wood pigeon, and of course enjoying all the amenities that the local pubs have to offer. My favourite experience so far has been the time spent exploring the English country side. There are vast expanses of farm land, and scattered throughout is an extensive network of walking paths. I have thoroughly enjoyed going for a few walks along these paths and coming upon unexpected farms and villages, and enjoying the beauty that this region has to offer. It’s been bloody muddy and I’m glad that I brought my hiking boots with me; they have come in very handy on multiple occasions. The vast areas of rolling hills that we go walking on are called the Downs, and essentially they were formed a very long time ago when millions of little sea creatures were deposited on top of each other, back when the ocean still covered the island. The collection of all their remains has resulted in these elevated areas of land, and due to the decomposition of their organic sea shells, this area has now become a very large deposit of chalk. Anyways, walking on these Downs is amazing, and I’ve got lots of great pictures to share when I get home.

As far as the vocational side of my U.K. adventure, I have visited a local physician’s office, a retail pharmacy, and two hospital pharmacies. The local physician’s office is very similar to what we have back in the States, except it has a “dispensary” in the back, which essentially is a pharmacy. The MDs write an Rx for their patients, and then before the patient leaves the office they swing by the dispensary and pick up the Rx. There is no pharmacist onsite which is allowed because there is always a physician onsite who is responsible for the whole operation. The local retail pharmacy that I visited was equivalent to the local independent community pharmacies that we have back home. I met a very nice Irish pharmacist onsite and she explained the whole operation to me, it was a great experience. The first hospital pharmacy that I visited was an oncology specific hospital pharmacy. They specialize only in the inpatient chemotherapies and have a fascinating system of operation. Lots of automation like we have back home with a few differences. The last hospital that I have visited was essentially a mirror image of Memorial hospital (the hospital I work at) back home. The Director of pharmacy met with me and gave me an in-depth explanation of how the pharmacy healthcare system works in the U.K., and explained the daily operations of his facility. We ended with a tour of his whole hospital, a very unique experience.

People have asked what unexpected or interesting things I have learned or experienced so far and here are some thoughts to end this post:
- Every Rotarian that we have met over here has been so incredibly gracious and nice; it has just been a wonderful experience.
- Walking along the English country side has been a thrill and was everything that I had hoped it would be.
- My pharmacy vocational experiences have been fascinating. Two interesting things that I have seen so far are:
o EVERY medication is unit dosed. Medications come pre-packaged in blister packaging in small boxes (with brail on them, which is interesting too), and the physicians write the quantities of their prescriptions based on how the medication is supplied. For example, amoxicillin capsules come in boxes containing 10 blister packs each, a typical short course for an antibiotic. Generic atenolol comes in boxes of 28 blister packs, a typical once a day dose for a month. Pharmacists RARELY split up boxes to complete an Rx because they already come packaged in the quantity that the physicians are writing for. A sharp contrast to what we do in the states where we will have a 1000 count bottle of a medication and count out 30 pills for a patient on a counting tray (which the English pharmacy I visited couldn’t even find because they don’t know they last time they had to use it).
o The payment system for prescriptions is very interesting and complex. There are too many finer details to explain here, but essentially, if you are over 60 years old you get ANY and ALL your prescriptions for free. There are a few exceptions where you can be less than 60 years old and have other qualifications that also lend you to this category. Also, if you have to pay for your prescription, it is only 7 pounds and 20 cents. Period. Even if the medication only costs pennies or if it costs 5000 pounds, which is the price you pay for one prescription. Essentially the U.K. has a national formulary which their equivalent of the FDA has approved, and as long as the proper channels are followed and the drug is on the U.K. formulary, it is what it is. This whole concept is very complex and confusing, and I’m trying to sort it out while over here, hopefully I have it straight in my head so I can explain it when I get home.

Okay, well I have rambled on enough for now. In closing, I hope everyone back home is doing well, I hope Spring is there when I get home, yes Mom I am taking care of myself and not getting run down, Scotty loves his wife very much, and as always, Dexter (the puppy dog) is in charge while I’m gone.

Cheers!
-Scott