Level 1
Scheduled / unscheduled Scheduled
Experience / reference IPP placement (community) year 1
Date: January 2016
Student Name: Katherine Greene
Student ID: 9543606
Background reading
The General Pharmaceutical Society has some information: (http://pharmacyregulation.org/education/support-staff )
Inter-professional team questions:
1. What does a medicines counter assistant do?
A medicines counter assistant is involved in the sale of over-the-counter medicine under the supervision of the pharmacist.
2. What does a medicines counter assistant course entail?
The course must cover the units of the NVQ level 2 in pharmacy services entitled “Assist in the sale of medicines and products”, “Receive …show more content…
There may also be other reasons to refer to the pharmacist, such as if the customer is taking other medications, if they have prolonged symptoms, if the medicine is for a child or if the customer is frail or elderly, if the customer is pregnant, if misuse or abuse of a medicine is suspected, or if a customer requests a large quantity of medicines or is repeatedly purchasing the same medication. The pharmacist is more qualified to deal with these complications, and suggest an appropriate course of …show more content…
Completing the Buttercups Medicines Counter Assistant course will provide me with this information, and my summer placement in community pharmacy will give me an opportunity to observe and put this into practice.
3. How will this impact on your future practice as a qualified pharmacist?
When qualified as a pharmacist I will know what advice a medicines counter assistant is trained to provide and in which circumstances I am required to intervene in order to ensure the patient receives the appropriate advice and medication for their condition.
Further reading you have identified:
• Policy on minimum training requirements for dispensing / pharmacy assistants and medicines counter assistants. General Pharmaceutical Council. Available at: http://www.pharmacyregulation.org/sites/default/files/minimum_training_requirements_da_mca_sep_2011.pdf [Accessed 5th March 2016]
• Your Role as a Medicine Counter Assistant. Buttercups Training Ltd. Available at: http://www.buttercups.co.uk/website/storage.nsf/setup/documents_mca_v2/$file/Module-01-Role-as-a-Medicine-Counter-Assistant.pdf [Accessed 5th March