RE: How to you keep up to date on medicines?

Andrea Tarr — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 09:38:14 GMT

Thank you Sal. This is very helpful insight.

RE: How to you keep up to date on medicines?

Sal the 1st — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 17:19:59 GMT

I used to do this at a previous practice. Was just a case of keeping an eye out in the usual veterinary 'comics' , keeping an eye on NOAH for any announcements, taking notice of anything the various companies sent out re shortages etc, keeping an eye on back order items and expected delivery dates (you can often work out there will be a shortage long before anything is announced) - also keeping an eye on NHS shortages or stockpiling and listening to reps and pharmacist chatter - ie our practice never ran out of preds when they were like gold dust to get hold of because I carefully managed how much each client could have at a time, so everybody got enough rather than one or two clients buying the lot and was on the ball very early and sourced wherever I could. When everything veterinary had been exhausted I already had a back up list of generics which could be used under cascade and places I might still be able to get them.

When apoquel first came out and then went out of stock for what seemed like forever after just a few weeks we were able to secure stock for our patients (but not always for new patients transferring because their vets couldnt get it) because I took note and acted very early on to the warnings. Same with propofol and isoflurane - we never ran out. Dont get me wrong we never kept huge stocks as a single practice independent so nobody could accuse us of stockpiling and it is time consuming but totally worth it. We used to have a little fb group of about a half dozen nurses from various places where we would post alerts of shortages, rumours we had heard, new products etc, suppliers who had stock. It worked well for us. Not involved in this side at all now I am in a different job