Virus X -- a dangerous time

摘要

I can't remember whether I've shared this little snippet with you. If I have you'll know what the diagnosis is, so let's hope I haven't. As you must know by now the little bits of information I get from the wireless intrigue me. It's a unique medium, far better in many ways for imparting ideas than either newspapers or television. What left an impression on me recently was a discussion about the difficulties of prescribing the correct medicine. Slightly disconcerting when you think about it, but that's another story. The problem it seems starts with the poor old doctor and the rot sets in if he or she is just plain ignorant of the best medicine to prescribe in the first place and that of course is assuming a correct diagnosis to start with. It gets worse. Apparently doctors writing is as awful as it's reputed to be and when they've made the right diagnosis and prescribed the correct medicine the pharmacist can't read the prescription, so makes a guess. At that stage the doctor's done his bit andthe pharmacist takes over. Even if, apparently against heavy odds, everything is still all right at that stage mistakes can and do occur. It seems many drugs have very similar packaging. The pharmaceutical companies are more interested in promoting theircorporate image than ensuring that drugs can't be confused. So if the poor dispenser is a bit stressed he has ample opportunity to take a package, an incorrect one, that looks exactly like the one he's seeking. But, and this for me was the punchline, the stow of potential disasters isn't yet complete. All is going swimmingly so far, a well-informed doctor, an accomplished diagnostician, has prescribed the right drugs for the right problem and, saint that he is, has written enough for the methodical pharmacist to dispense the correct drugs and it can all still go pear-shaped.