Pharmacists are very much trained to diagnose people who walk into the pharmacy with symptoms and make recommendations for over the counter meds, and in some states can even prescribe medications. It's unethical for them to do so if they don't have the tools to make a diagnosis, however, so without testing equipment or lab work they generally won't do so.
Yes way. The pharmacist is every bit a part of the medication dispensing process as the doctor and are just as responsible in the eyes of the law. That's why they get the right to choose whether or not they want to fill any prescription or not for any reason. However thats not whats happening in this case where the state boards have directed pharmacists to acquire a diagnosis code before dispensing the medication and even then, sometimes limiting the amount that can be dispensed
You have no idea what you're talking about. Pharmacists lose their licenses all the time for filling prescriptions that are not appropriate, such as doctors writing unusually high amounts of pain medication to multiple patients or over a long period of time. Doctors also sometimes write prescriptions for conditions outside their scope of practice, such as high amounts of anxiety medications written by eye doctors. All prescriptions actually written by doctors, and the pharmacist is at fault for dispensing when they should have known better.
Then why is there an opioid crisis of people abusing prescription pain medication? Super infections immune to antibiotics because of overprescribal? OB/GYNs being investigated for prescribing benzodiazepines and opiates? Just because a doctor writes a prescription does not mean its necessary or valid at all.
Pharmacists are doctors, lol. They specialize in medications and their interactions with other medications, foods, health conditions and more. They are required to receive 8 years of education and are often far more knowledgeable than a MD.
It's not a matter of a block in the system. It's a matter of "the state requires this code from the doctor to verify why this script is needed." The state boards are monitoring doctors, just as they do for controlled substances, to make sure doctors aren't overprescribing these drugs due to Covid in order to keep them in stock for people who need them for other reasons like OP. Ultimately the pharmacist is responsible to acquire this diagnosis code and document it before the state allows them to dispense it. OP's doctor should know this, and if he was competent, would have already written the code on the prescription.
it enhances it, really.