Recently, however, a patient argued with me that it meant I could also change the strength.
Cialis is promoting their 5mg daily tablets by printing all sorts of newspaper ads telling people they can get a free 30 day supply of the 5mg if they can get a prescription from the doctor. So a dude shows up with a prescription for Cialis 20mg and tells me I can give him the 5mg because the doctor signed on the sub line.
I told him no, that's not what it means. However, I can certainly call the doctor and get a verbal authorization to change it.
"No, don't do that!" he said, grabbing the Rx out of my hand.
Hmmmm.... I'm thinking maybe he really did know what "substitution permissible" means...
Where I live, in France, it's the contrary. Doctors have to mention that they don't want a substitution (in case of a an old patient who may make mistakes or a different excipient.) If a customer asks the pharmacist for the brand, he will have to pay in advance. So generic are widely used nowadays and it saves money.
ReplyDelete