[e-drug] Pharmacy Compounding in Australia (2)

["Horst Herb" <subscriptions@gnumed.net>]

E-drug: Pharmacy Compounding in Australia (2)
-----------------------------------------

It strikes me as odd that Australia would almost invariably limit the "known world" to the US and the UK when looking for answers and past experiences of others.

In my home country for example (Germany) compounding pharmacies were rather 
the rule than the exception throughout my childhood and still were when I 
left Germany 10 years ago. I don't think much has changed in that regard.

I found the Australian experience initially rather limiting (after working for 8 years as a GP here) - to be constrained to a limited range of off the shelf products, and I found it rather unnerving that our local pharmacists had not the faintest idea on how to compound medication on demand nor were they able to source the components when instructed.

--
Dr Horst Herb, M.D.
Principal, Dorrigo Medical Centre
subscriptions@gnumed.net

[I agree that many countries have more experience in compounding than e.g. the US. In Scandinavia compounding was also common until 10-20 years ago and is still common in hospital pharmacies. I once visited a pharmacy school in the US and was really surprised by the (lack of) proper training facilities and I then concluded that American pharmacy students probably only learn clinical (bedside) pharmacy. KM]