Over The Counter Chaos!!

While at work the other day, I received a phone call from one of our nurses. She was given a sample of a corticosteroid nasal spray from her physician, and was curious how to correctly use it. After resolving the issue, I asked her how she felt, since that cute voice on the phone I usually talked to was distorted with a raspy tone. She explained to me that she was feeling very ill(aches, congestion, cough, etc.) I empathized with her situation since I had been there the week before, coughing, aching, and feeling the dreaded malaise and myalgia, so I started interrogating as a pharmacist would about what she had been taking. She mention that she had some sort of flu, cold and cough product that was OTC so I had her read the label to me. She read off; diphenhydramine, acetaminophen, and phenylephrine. I asked her, “Is that it?”, she said with a congested raspy voice, “That’s all it says Steve”. I repeated, “It does say cough on the label doesn’t it?”. She replied, “Clear as day..”. This left me perplexed, thinking, if it at least said cough on the label, there should be a medication in the combo for cough, right? Wrong. After researching this product, I realized it was labeled “Cold and Cough”, and it was exactly what she read to me. I suggested she add a generic Robitussin DM to her list to treat her cough, and if she needs any help with her chaos to talk to the pharmacist where she plans to purchase it. It shouldn’t be this confusing for patients, but it is. At least as long as pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors are fighting for their market share, which is not going to change anytime soon.

When you get the chance (if you don’t already work at a community pharmacy), walk down the aisle at your local drugstore and perceive how chaotic it must be for a patient. To see all of these products that contain different proportions of the same drugs reading, “cough and cold”, “flu”, “pain reliever”, “arthritis pain”, “headache relief”, etc. , then turning the box around only to read a different language most of them don’t know. Simple drugs such as guaifenesin, dextromethorphan, or phenylephrine, may be easy to identify as a pharmacist, but for patients it must be like reading Latin. The knowledge a pharmacists can bring to a simple situation, such as the one above, can be infinitely helpful for patients looking to achieving their treatment goals. Don’t forget, while you are assisting patients, how important it is as a pharmacist to simply translate what is perceived by patients as “chaos”.