Stuffed up: When it’s all in the head

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Stuffed up: When it’s all in the head

Sarah Mooney
Woman blowing nose

It is possibly the most common encounter in community pharmacy: a patient walks in sniffling, sneezing and coughing, with red eyes, and wanting “something for it”. While it is tempting to head straight to the cold and flu remedies and send them on their way before getting back to that mountain of prescriptions; the profession calls on pharmacists and pharmacy staff to look deeper and make sure the remedies are the best treatment for the patient; otherwise, they could have just gone to the supermarket. Christchurch pharmacist Sarah Mooney lays out some treatment option

Pharmacists and their staff all know the WWHAM mnemonic. Who is being treat-ed? What are the symptoms? How long have they had the symptoms? What actio