Laetitia woke up with a sore throat, cough and sore ear. His reflex was to go to the pharmacy: “Waiting for a date and an appointment with a doctor is a long time. It’s better to be in a pharmacy right away”, explains the young woman. The pharmacist gives him a test “to find out if it’s bacterial or viral angina”. The result is negative, that means it’s viral. The pharmacist sells him lozenges for the throat, syrup but for the ear “it’s more delicate, a doctor would have to look a little bit at the ear canal”.
>> Medical desert: “It’s better for patients, better for doctors”, more and more general practitioners are choosing to work
For several months, the idea has been gaining ground: relieving doctors of minor ailments and minor everyday illnesses, to entrust them to nurses, midwives or pharmacists. For the past year, pharmacies on the Quiberon peninsula have been experimenting with taking care of what could be called “bobology” at the pharmacy. “It’s the little everyday ills that we try to solvedetails Nathalie Caumont and Justine Rétaud, both pharmacists on the peninsula. There are thirteen pathologies today that are identified. Pathologies for which patients already come to see us at the counter on a daily basis. It goes from the first urinary discomfort to conjunctivitis, back pain, sore throat, rhinitis, headaches, tick bites. That’s also something we see regularly.”
Removing a tick is a new gesture authorized within the framework of this experiment. On the Breton peninsula, many things that were already done are formalized, supervised, explains Nathalie Vasseur, pharmacist in downtown Quiberon: “We must be clear, we continue to do the job we did before this device existed.” And the pharmacists insist: “We’re not here to be the doctor, we’re just here to guide.”
“And if the patient has to be sent to the doctor, we send the patient to the doctor. We don’t steal their jobs!”
Nathalie Vasseur, pharmacist in Quiberonat franceinfo
On this hyper-touristy peninsula, doctors are overwhelmed in summer. Moreover, doctor Nathalie Morandi sees this experiment in a good light: “Having pharmacists who can pre-sort is rather interesting since it allows us to focus on our core business, so to see more serious things by trusting our pharmacists.” In the same vein, after the possibility for pharmacists to vaccinate recently, the government is considering further expanding their field of competence from 2023.
Medical deserts: pharmacies in demand – Report by Solenne Le Hen in Quiberon
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