I85PREP
⌘ K
Greek Pharmacist License study materials
Greek Pharmacist License study resources

Greek Pharmacist License: Dispensing and Patient Counselling

Greek Pharmacist License · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Dispensing and Patient Counselling

This domain tests the legal and technical act of dispensing a prescription and the communication that must accompany it. Items cover prescription validity and content, prescription-only classification, generic substitution and structured counselling for high-risk medicines.

Prescription requirements in Greece

  • Electronic prescribing through the national e-prescription system (ΗΔΙΚΑ) is the norm for reimbursed medicines; paper prescriptions are reserved for defined exceptions such as system unavailability or home visits.
  • A valid prescription states the patient's full name and social security number (AMKA), the prescriber's name, specialty, registration number, stamp and signature, the medicine's name, pharmaceutical form, strength, quantity in figures and words, the dosage regimen, the date and the diagnosis or reimbursement code.
  • Prescriptions have a defined validity period; narcotic and psychotropic medicines require special prescription forms, are limited in quantity and duration, are not repeatable, and the forms are retained and archived by the pharmacy.
  • Substitution with a cheaper generic of the same active substance, form and strength is permitted under national law with patient information and recording, with exceptions including narrow therapeutic index drugs and biologicals.
  • Prescription-only medicines cannot be advertised to the public and cannot be supplied without a valid prescription; OTC medicines (ΜΗΣΥΦΑ) are sold only through pharmacies.

Structuring counselling

  • Use open questions and the prime questions: what did the doctor tell you it is for, how did he tell you to take it, what did he tell you to expect.
  • Cover indication, dose and timing, duration, what to do about a missed dose, storage, the most important adverse effects, interactions to avoid, and driving or alcohol warnings, then confirm with teach-back.
  • Drug-specific essentials: rinse the mouth after inhaled corticosteroids; rotate insulin injection sites; keep vitamin K intake consistent on warfarin and attend INR checks; take doxycycline with water, upright, without dairy or antacids, and avoid sun exposure; levothyroxine on an empty stomach 30 to 60 minutes before breakfast; bisphosphonates with water, staying upright for 30 minutes.
  • Pregnancy counselling: avoid ACE inhibitors, ARBs, isotretinoin, valproate and warfarin; recommend folic acid 400 micrograms before conception.

Worked example

A patient is prescribed levothyroxine and also buys calcium carbonate. Reasoning: calcium, iron, aluminium-containing antacids and proton-pump inhibitors reduce levothyroxine absorption, and the interaction is clinically significant because the therapeutic index is narrow. Counselling: take levothyroxine with water on an empty stomach 30 to 60 minutes before breakfast, keep the timing identical every day, and separate calcium by at least four hours; reinforce that thyroid function will be rechecked in six to eight weeks.

Traps that cost marks

Giving generic advice such as take with food when food reduces absorption; forgetting the missed-dose instruction; failing to document a substitution; not asking about other medicines and supplements at the point of dispensing.