Would you be happy with opened boxes of insulin pens?

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MarkGeordie

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Collected prescription today.

Instead of 2x boxes of 5 pre-filled pens.

I received 1 box and then one of those white boxes with 3 pens in which have clearly come from another box.

Would you be happy? How do I know they haven’t been tampered with.
 
That is not ok for your chemists to do that. I think it goes against regulations(not 100% sure)
 
I'm confused. You were prescribed 10 but only receive eight?

But as for the general question, when someone is prescribed one pen to see how they get on with it, should the pharmacy throw the other four away? You know they haven't been tampered with because they came from the pharmacy & not from a street corner dealer.
 
Yes, I would be happy.
When I found myself needing to get an insulin pen in an emergency, due to my incompetence, I only needed one pen so they had to open a box.
It is easy to see that the pen has not been used based on the amount of insulin in it
And it is the needle that needs to be sterile and it packaged so that it is. I have received an open bos of needles in the past but as the seal on each one was intact, I was happy.
Did you ask the pharmacist why they dispensed the pens as they did?

Finally, a bit of an aside. Is there a reason why you are using single use pens? Reusable ones are much more robust, are better for the environment and, something that would be very important for me if I was getting 10 at a time, the cartridges take up a lot less space in the fridge.
 
MarkGeordie said:
Collected prescription today.

Instead of 2x boxes of 5 pre-filled pens.

I received 1 box and then one of those white boxes with 3 pens in which have clearly come from another box.

Would you be happy? How do I know they haven’t been tampered with.
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Some people are only prescribed 1 pen not 1 box so yes I’m fine with this.
 
RBZ5416 said:
I'm confused. You were prescribed 10 but only receive eight?

But as for the general question, when someone is prescribed one pen to see how they get on with it, should the pharmacy throw the other four away? You know they haven't been tampered with because they came from the pharmacy & not from a street corner dealer.
Click to expand...
Yes, I received 8, as that’s all they had, I can’t really control that, so that’s why I was saying the box of 5 must have had 2 given to someone else.
helli said:
Finally, a bit of an aside. Is there a reason why you are using single use pens? Reusable ones are much more robust, are better for the environment and, something that would be very important for me if I was getting 10 at a time, the cartridges take up a lot less space in the fridge.
Click to expand...
I’ve no idea really, been on them for about 6 years. Will raise that with the DSN.

Thanks for all thoughts, maybe I was overthinking.
 
I can understand why it felt disconcerting @MarkGeordie

But I guess not everyone needs a whole box, so there will be occasions where a pharmacy may have open boxes available?

I believe there are lots of regulations around ‘chain of custody’ and as far as I know anything that has left a pharmacy can‘t be given to anyone else and must be destroyed even if it is unopened and sealed (which is why I always check my bag contents while I’m at the counter!).

I think pens in an open box should be just the same as pens in a closed box. Or at least that’s the intention!
 
MarkGeordie said:
Would you be happy?
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No and for this reason I called my doctor to ensure prescriptions are for full (unopened) boxes.

I've had all sorts handed out to me from the pharmacy. Broken pens, used vials, broken vials, off insulin etc etc. Clearly the safety controls are not in place. I'd never accept a split open box of insulin.

There should be a break seal on pre filled insulin pens as there are with the foil seals on vials.
 
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