How to avoid the prescribing police
By Haemnet
On completing her prescribing course, haemophilia nurse Trish Bell was moved to compose a new opus, which you can read below. But before you do, we’d just like to add that on 24 September, Trish will be taking the plunge to swim a mile for The Haemophilia Society. Trish has pledged to raise £1000. HNA members and Haemnet readers who wish to help Trish make a splash for this worthy cause can make donations at www.virginmoneygiving.com by searching for Trish Bell. So if you like the poem you know how to show your appreciation…
The hardest module!
Every Thursday I go to university
To learn all about pharmacology
My patients all know to where I disappear
I’m doing this for them, to me they are dear
I sit and consume my early morning porridge
Then cycle up the road and soak up some knowledge
I mingle with students someone’s son, someone’s brother
And think to myself I could be their mother
So, what of this course I find I am doing
The science, the terminology on which I am stewing
I’ll remember, if I find myself hesitating
To quote, this medicine is for modulating!
So what have I learnt in the lapse of 8 weeks
Multiple prescriptions may need a few tweaks
From an angry pharmacist you may need to be protected
If you write on a prescription “take as directed”
Don’t give to a child an intramuscular injection
And don’t overprescribe antibiotics for infection
Base your practice in studies based on evidence well told
And don’t overprescribe for the young or the old
Base your rationale for prescribing on results from the lab
To avoid for your patient the mortuary slab
And don’t let your colleagues from industry lead you astray
Or the prescribing police will put you away
When using the BNF you may feel quite lost
Don’t prescribe on the efficacy – remember the cost!
Tell your patient always the administration route
For suppositories don’t swallow, up your rear end please shoot
If you are a prescriber, an AHP or a nurse
Just take one thing home from this little verse
Remember your own professional accountability
And only prescribe from your personal formulary.