Y’know, I promised to continue talking about how to engage patients and pharmacists in behaviour change, but I gotta tell you this story because it is happening right now. I will try to keep you up-to-date about this surreal but real health journey by yours truly.I may also provide some food for thought along the way about how we deliver health care, and what our expectations are for the care that we receive.Right now I am in Turks and Caicos getting ready for bed. Tomorrow morning I am having resurfacing done on both of my hips. The reasons have to do with some inadequacies in our health system. I will get into those in subsequent blogs.For now, we can just recognize that although our Canadian system takes pretty good care of those who are dying, if patients are merely suffering we are asked to accept waiting for ridiculous periods of time—delays that you’d never have to endure in other countries.I feel the need to tell you firsthand about this adventure as it happens. I am having the operation done by a Canadian surgeon who wanted to give his patients another option besides waiting.Why we Canadians put up with waiting for surgeries that relieve pain, improve quality of life and get people back to work productively is another topic for future discussion.We left on a cold winter day yesterday. Three flights later we arrived on a darkened island somewhere in the Caribbean. Before taking off from Toronto, we befriended two couples from Winnipeg headed for Florida in a restaurant at the airport, as well as two sisters who were flying to Miami for a cruise.On the flight, one of the sisters was unwell and the crew asked for a health professional to help out. We pharmacists volunteered, but the flight attendant chose a nurse over us, adding that she would let us know if it was a medication issue. Then a physician came forward (I guess he didn’t hear with his headphones on) and started looking at pill bottles.We quizzed the other sister when she passed by to go to the loo, and she mentioned her sister had taken dimenhydrinate, was on atorvastatin, and had just started taking sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim. Her blood pressure was quite low and she was lying on the seat.The pharmacists, of course, thought drug reaction, interaction… maybe anaphylaxis or anaphylactoid reaction. But they didn’t really take advantage of this valuable, if decidedly pharmacisty, opinion. We need a better PR department.Then there was an oil leak that delayed takeoff from Miami, but I guess having an engine leaking oil flying over the ocean isn’t the best approach so arriving late was okay.We got in late, in the dark, and missed dinner. But our friends who are doing my surgery left some snacks and leftovers in our room. Then this morning they took us shopping. Our driver took us to stores that were supposed to be closed, or unable to sell certain products that we got our hands on nonetheless.One was a pharmacy, where a person asked us about the effectiveness of an OTC product and taking combinations of therapies. There was no pharmacist on duty, and she had overheard us chatting and knew we were pharmacists. Our work is never done, yet under-appreciated.We met my surgeon at breakfast and had a nice chat, and then again this afternoon for a question and answer session. That was followed by a tour of the hospital hosted by the director of care and a group discussion about the experience.After that I received a goodie bag of things we might need during our stay like reachers and sticky socks, and then capped things off with a nice dinner with other patients while watching the sunset. Indeed, it wasn’t your typical pre-op experience.I will let you know how the surgery goes, and maybe fill you in about why I had to come to the Caribbean to get it in the first place.Ken Burns is a pharmacist at the Diabetes Care Centre at Sudbury Regional Hospital.
