On 25 May 2007 at 16:10, Dan Minette wrote: > > If I need to see a doctor, I inform my workplace and go. I make up > > the hours. That's pretty standard for non-shift workers here. As > > opposed to being told to take holiday.. > > That's pretty standard here too...at least as far as I've seen.
For lower income workers? Not so much. > > > > > Well, I don't know about authorising drugs. But I do know this: many > > more drugs in America are prescription. This is because there are > > only two catagories of drugs, over the counter and prescription > > (excepting a few drugs under specific state laws). The UK has a third > > category, which is "behind the counter" - a trained pharmacist can > > dispense the drug, and it's kept literally behind the counter, not on > > the shop floor. And that's not a small category here either. > > Well, that seems like a reasonable thing, but I don't think it will have a > major impact on costs...unless antibiotics for kids are on that list, and It's not costs. It's that for a lot of drugs which, in America you need to see a doctor to get a prescription for, you can get from a pharmacy (in your lunch hour) here. > I'm not sure that the general dispensation of antibiotics is a good > idea....creating immunity and all. The seniors I know should have their > meds tracked by a physician or nurse practitioner because of the long term > nature of their use, the chances for interaction, etc. Actually, that's why most antibiotics remain prescription. Several are not, but they're older drugs which are general useless these days as antibiotics and are prescribed for other effects (anti inflamatory, for example). Talking about resistance, we've actually had a policy in place for the better part of a decade that doctors can write you a "non- prescrption", explaining why they won't give you antibiotics in a given situation (viral illness, usually). AndrewC Dawn Falcon _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
