# What are pharmacists and local pharmacies called in Spain?



## vaughndk (Sep 21, 2010)

Hello:

Could someone tell me what local / community pharmacies
are called in Spain, and the pharmacists that work in those
places?

Thank You
David


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

vaughndk said:


> Hello:
> 
> Could someone tell me what local / community pharmacies
> are called in Spain, and the pharmacists that work in those
> ...


if by local/community pharmacy you mean the place where you buy your paracetamol - then _farmacia_


the pharmacist would be the _farmacéutico_


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## gerrit (Jul 15, 2008)

Farmacia  Very simple. And they're good. Here in Barcelona there's several ones open 24/7, and most others open until 10:00 PM or 9:00 PM. Quite a lot of them are open on bank holidays as well. And medication, if prescribed by a doctor, is very cheap compared to the other 6 countries I've lived in. Healthcare in Spain is organised quite well. Nothing is perfect, but let's just say I am happy with the way things are organised here.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Look out for the green cross, usually flashing when they're open, which they all have above their shops!

Jo xxx


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

jojo said:


> Look out for the green cross, usually flashing when they're open, which they all have above their shops!
> 
> Jo xxx


We have a drive through farmacia here! Useless information I know but I was still surprised when i found it. Although I have never used it, I believe its just like Macdonals - hand in your prescription at a window and they get you your meds! How cool is that!!!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

steve_in_spain said:


> We have a drive through farmacia here! Useless information I know but I was still surprised when i found it. Although I have never used it, I believe its just like Macdonals - hand in your prescription at a window and they get you your meds! How cool is that!!!


Sounds a brilliant idea LOL!! I thought the one in Plaza Mayor was clever, you go in, hand your script over, they put it into their PC and your meds drop down a shoot next to them!!!???

Jo xxx


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

jojo said:


> Sounds a brilliant idea LOL!! I thought the one in Plaza Mayor was clever, you go in, hand your script over, they put it into their PC and your meds drop down a shoot next to them!!!???
> 
> Jo xxx


Now I wonder if that is a little man in a room upstairs who sits all day throwing drugs into a shoot, or do you think they have some sort of factory type robot thing? What a great idea! Maybe they could combine the two....

You drive up to a window, hand in your prescrption, open your sunroof and the meds drop down a shoot into your car - what do you rekon Jo...am I onto something? 

On a more serious note though, I think the farmacias here are so much better than the UK where you can only but commercially available meds without a prescription. Here, they seem to know almost as much as the doctor, give really good advice and with a few exceptions give you the right treatment without even needing a trip to the doctor!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

We have the old fashioned sort where you hand your prescription to the pharmacist and he tells all the other customers what ailments you've got, not realising we could understand everything he was saying!! This actually happened ...


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

steve_in_spain said:


> Now I wonder if that is a little man in a room upstairs who sits all day throwing drugs into a shoot, or do you think they have some sort of factory type robot thing? What a great idea! Maybe they could combine the two....
> 
> You drive up to a window, hand in your prescrption, open your sunroof and the meds drop down a shoot into your car - what do you rekon Jo...am I onto something?
> 
> On a more serious note though, I think the farmacias here are so much better than the UK where you can only but commercially available meds without a prescription. Here, they seem to know almost as much as the doctor, give really good advice and with a few exceptions give you the right treatment without even needing a trip to the doctor!



There are much, much better! There is a reason why the the pharmacists in the UK dont give much in the way of info - good old litigation!!!!! When I worked for the NHS, initially it was encouraged that people would go to their pharmacy with silly coughs and colds etc - but of course, if they got it wrong.................????!!!!!! So it was then discouraged and pharmacists refused to advice!

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> We have the old fashioned sort where you hand your prescription to the pharmacist and he tells all the other customers what ailments you've got, not realising we could understand everything he was saying!! This actually happened ...


my favourite one here is more like a club

you go in, everyone knows each other & what is wrong with everyone else



my OH went in for something for my daughter & the girl behind the counter asked if it was for me!!


using my christian name!!!


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## xicoalc (Apr 20, 2010)

Alcalaina said:


> We have the old fashioned sort where you hand your prescription to the pharmacist and he tells all the other customers what ailments you've got, not realising we could understand everything he was saying!! This actually happened ...


On one hadn shocking, but on the other not surprising!!! I dont think patient confidentiality exists out here, nor does discretion!

I remember last year a friends mother was in Spain and had a bit of trouble with her hemmeroids (is that spelt right?). I took her to the farmacia and quietly explained her problem trying to be as discreet as possile to avoid embaresment for the old dear...

The pharmacist went through the back to get the appropriate treatment and then stuck her head around the corner and in front of a shop full shouted accross "does the lady want crema o suppositories, the best way to treat piles is with a combination of both!"


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> my favourite one here is more like a club
> 
> you go in, everyone knows each other & what is wrong with everyone else
> 
> ...


Sounds just like ours. Actually I think I prefer that to a drive-in one, though I suppose I might feel differently if I had something seriously embarrassing!

We have two farmacias in our town of 5,500 people and one of them is always open, 24/7. I can't think of any town that small in the UK that would even have one chemist, let alone two.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

I would like to be able to buy Paracetamol at my local garage or in the paper shop.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

jimenato said:


> I would like to be able to buy Paracetamol at my local garage or in the paper shop.


I miss that too!

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> I miss that too!
> 
> Jo xxx


well I made an idiot of myself in Sainsburys & went up to the pharmacist & asked for paracetamol & vicks nasal spray!!


I totally forgot that you buy them off the shelf!!


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## BCNGUIRI (Sep 15, 2010)

I think some people here don't understand the Spanish, it's not a case of the pharmacist being indiscrete but more to do with the fact that they don't get embarrassed over trivial or unimportant things unlike the Brits. It probably doesn't even occur to them its something to be discrete about. Everybody gets ill, Im sure that no-one has never suffered at some point from hemorrhoids at one point why be embarrassed? 

For me its one of the great things about this country that people don't get their knickers in a twist and prudish about silly thing!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

BCNGUIRI said:


> I think some people here don't understand the Spanish, it's not a case of the pharmacist being indiscrete but more to do with the fact that they don't get embarrassed over trivial or unimportant things unlike the Brits. It probably doesn't even occur to them its something to be discrete about. Everybody gets ill, Im sure that no-one has never suffered at some point from hemorrhoids at one point why be embarrassed?
> 
> For me its one of the great things about this country that people don't get their knickers in a twist and prudish about silly thing!


You're dead right, but I still have a few residual traces of English reserve about announcing the state of my orifices!


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> well I made an idiot of myself in Sainsburys & went up to the pharmacist & asked for paracetamol & vicks nasal spray!!
> 
> 
> I totally forgot that you buy them off the shelf!!


Have you also replied to the checkout operators in spanish like I've done !


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