Wheelchairs

Come  on, it's okay to laugh. You would have to be pretty dozy to drive into a trench that big. Pensioner wheelchair users are the bane of my life. Half the people I know that use them are purely lazy, with no need  for them besides liking to sit on their arses all day.  Plus, they are a hazard- no tax, no insurance and myopic pensioners driving them around at 8mph. This old codger doesn't even know she has crashed. Look at that vacant expression, the blank, "You have only given me half of my medication" stare. Also note she isn't even trying to help herself, just waiting for someone else to lend a hand and prevent her from having to use her brain.

I'm kidding, I love old people really. Thanks for posing grandma, you are the best. Be safe, don't Zopiclone and drive.

Mobile phones

Is it me or are people becoming increasingly rude in their use of mobile phones? I've toyed with the idea of buying some signs for the pharmacy such as this or this. However, I doubt that this would convince my thick-skinned customers to shut the hell up. Glaring at them does not work and putting their prescription to the back of the queue does not work either. It is hard enough to juggle three jobs, answer the phone, check a dosage without listening to some half-witted drivel. I've never overheard a half-way interesting conversation.

Anyway, I found an answer here.

"The Y300 triple system jammer is similar to the Y300 dual model, except that this Y300 triple includes 3G jamming too. This model is only available from us and will take care of your jamming requirements as more and more 3G networks are created over the next few years. The Y300 comes in 2 models, one for GSM and the other for the Americas/Canada. Each transmitter outputs 3 Watts, the total output is 9 Watts. If you want a cell phone jammer to last into the future, then this is the one to buy"

That should do the trick nicely. Now, when I get frustrated, I can simply switch it on and cut off their stream of inanity. How much fun will that be?

Don't shoot the pharmacist.

A movie about pharmacists? The trailer looks good, it shows a few situations not dissimilar to those I have faced in the pharmacy.

More info here. It's just been released in the USA, so, if at all, it'll probably be out in the UK in a few months. If not then I'm afraid I'll have to reach for my favourite torrent site, or buy it on Region 1 DVD.

At least the pharmacist is an improvement on those two fictional pharmacists-Ned Flanders of "The Simpsons" fame, and Mort Goldman from "Family Guy"

Facebook

Okay MrHunnybun (or as near as I could get) is now on Facebook here. So, come and befriend me (especially if you play Scrabulous too)

Pharmacy Numberplates

I'm not a big fan of personalised number-plates like these. Each to their own, I suppose. But £3500?! I am not sure I would want my neighbouts to know I worked in a PIIMCY and that I was a CIIMST.

The Last Lecture

I have recently finished reading "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. It is a book I would recommend to anyone-it's touching and inspirational without being sentimental. It's also possible to download the video of "The Last Lecture" through iTunes


Randy was given three to six months to live. This was, er, six months ago. At the time of reading the book I was not aware of his current status, but he has a blog. There he posts his news and lab results for those of us, in his own words "keeping score at home." It was whilst perusing this blog that I found a post mentioning these very cool-looking pill-bottle designs. It looks as if these were designed for Target in the United States.

The bottles stand on their caps and have a large flat surface that enable a large font to be used. If you have your pharmacy-geek head on then follow the link to his blog, click on the photograph of his meds and work out his meds regime from the photograph.

We don't have anything similar to this in the United Kingdom, at least where I work. We just have boring old plastic pots with clik-lok lids. I think this design would be a lot more useful for patients. I understand that a lot of dispensing is done from bulk in the US, rather than from calendar packs. Anyone know why? Do you all just like counting tablets by hand, or by mechanical counter?

Next time I am in the US I am going to see if I can find a Target and buy/barter for some of these containers.

Wallpaper

I recently bought a roll of wallpaper that was used in Damien Hirst's restaurant Pharmacy. Unfortunately the restaurant shut down before I got a chance to eat in it.I did get to go to the auction at Sotheby's where the contents of the restaurant were auctioned for eleven million pounds!

Obviously the small amount of paper I have is not enough to wallpaper any room larger than a room in a dolls house. So, what to do with it? I guess I could unfurl it every now and again and look at the pictures of tablets. Or, possibly, have it framed and hang it in my study.

It contains a weird selection of drugs, some from the United Kingdom and some presumably from the United States. I'm not sure how they chose which dosage forms to use in the wallpaper. What they could obtain photographs of maybe?

Inside my patient's heads

This is my estimate of the inside of many of my patient's minds. They stand there and seem to be looking at me. But, no-one is at home. "One tablet daily, does that mean I take one in the morning and one at night?"

Grr

Vista SP1

I need to get out more.

Microsoft released Vista SP1 last week. I had beta-tested it for a while, but the release version is now available for download from Microsoft. Microsoft Update will automatically pick up the download over the next few weeks if you have "Automatic Updates" set. However, if you are a geek, like me, you will probably want to get it now. It's 435 MB, So probably best to order a disk if you still have dial-up.
It took about an hour to install on the computers on my network and they all rebooted seamlessly. Nothing visually seems to have changed so it is hard to tell that there has been an update. All the improvements seem to be under the bonnet-the one I immediately noticed is that copying files over the network is much quicker. There are over 500 other updates and fixes, so it is worth getting.
One thing I was less impressed with was the Apple Update Software. It normally just informs of updates to Itunes or Quicktime, but today it popped up with a Safari update. I do not have this installed. but I was unsure whether I needed to install Safari to update the browser on my Ipod Touch. (You do not need to) I am aware that this is Apple's Internet browser but I use Internet Explorer 8 and have no plans to change. All browsers seem to launch with comments along the lines of "renders 25% faster than IE" but all recent browsers I have used seem to be roughly equivalent. One-third of a second is not really going to change my life. I know some people hate IE but I have used it with no problems for many versions. It seemed a bit sneaky to try and foist Safari as a needed update, many people will have no idea what it is and think they need to install it automatically. There would be an outcry if Microsoft had tried to do this with Internet Explorer. It looks as if a fair few people have been annoyed by the same thing.

See, I do need to get out more, don't I?

More Dyslexia?

More dodgy studies?

The spokeswoman for one of the dyslexia charities/pressure groups said on BBC news at One today.

"55% of children who fail their SATs are at risk of Dyslexia"

How can you be "at risk" from it? Is it something you can catch? Or can you get a "touch of dyslexia" in the way some people get a "touch of asthma"?

Or, is this just another case of a pressure group plugging their cause, keeping themselves in the limelight and trying to get extra funding? The media, as always, fails to fact check and takes them at their word. Cue breathless copy in various newspapers and a one-sided interview on the BBC.

The research was commissioned by Xtraordinary People, a dyslexia pressure-group.(Note the spelling, isn't the lack of an "E" amusing? Surely that spelling is just going to confuse their target audience?)So,we can obviously take it at face value, right? Well, it's hardly research, is it? It does not seem to have been published anywhere and no other data are provided. It's like the surveys that clog the newspapers on slow news days. Always along the lines of "Disease X"Charity warn that "Disease X" is underdiagnosed, underfunded, undertreated, etc.) They hardly ever point out that all the jobs created in their organisation rely on keeping Disease X in the limelight.

In conclusion- Children who cannot read very well do not do well at exams. Well, there's a shocker. We've all learned something today. Plus, never to believe surveys you read in newspapers.