Metoclopromide or methotrexate? Amlodipine or amiodarone?

How do pharmacists remember the names of all those drugs?

Sheue-Fen Lin was a pharmacist who completed her pre-registration year at Walsall Manor Hospital.

She said that when it came to drug names, there was no substitute for hard work.

"I can't remember everything, but it helps to know that there are different families of drugs with similar sounding names.

"You learn a lot when you are revising for exams. I can't think of any tricks other than studying."

Following a four year degree in Manchester, Sheue-Fen completed her pre-registration year and went to work at Walsall Manor Hospital.

She has some tips to help people feeling baffled by their tablets.

"When you come to hospital, it really helps if you bring your tablets with you.

"That way we know what you are being prescribed and that you are using them."

If this is not possible or if you forget them, one of her tasks is to find out peoples' regular prescriptions from their GP or the pharmacy that usually dispense them.

"Lots of people forget or are not sure what they are taking and it can really help to do a Medicines Use Review with your Community Pharmacy," she says. "They can go through the tablets you are taking, explain what they are for, check for side effects and reflect that back to your GP."
She says: "You can always come back to the pharmacy, we are always happy to explain."