You’re in Germany, and you need some medicine.
So you go into the grocery store, pick out what you want, and buy some, right?
No.
Okay...you go into a drugstore, pick out what you want, and buy some, right?
No.
Hmm. Oh! I know.
You go into a special pharmacy-only store, pick out what you want, and buy some, right?
Still no.
Hey everyone! I’m Dana and you’re watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad.
I’ve already touched on the pharmacy situation being different in Germany and the U.S. in two videos
now, my video with Trixi about tips for tourists in the USA, and my video on visiting the doctor
in Germany versus the USA.
And of course you should definitely check out both of those videos, but now I’m going
to take a much closer look at the topic: pharmacies in Germany versus the USA.
And let’s start with where you can buy medicine.
In Germany you can only buy medicine in pharmacies, in German called "Apotheken."
That’s the only place.
Now, for vitamins, it’s another story.
You can get many vitamins outside of the Apotheken.
A very limited few in some of the grocery stores, but there are lots of vitamins just
sitting on the shelves for sale at stores like Rossmann and DM, which are similar to
the drugstores, Walgreens and CVS in the U.S.
In the U.S., on the other hand, you can buy medicine in lots of places.
I bought most of my medicine in the U.S. at the grocery store or drugstores like Walgreens and CVS.
But you can also usually get smaller packets of, for example, pain medication like ibuprofen
even at the gas station.
And how do you get the medicine?
Well in the U.S. you just browse the medicine aisle of the store as you would the milk or
cereal aisle.
The medications that you don’t need a prescription for are just sitting there and you can read
the back of the box with the dosage and active drug information, and figure out what you need.
Not the case in Germany.
In Germany the pharmacies kind of remind me of the old-timey general stores in the U.S.,
like during colonial times, where you have to go up to the counter, and everything in
the store is behind the counter, and the person working there has to get it for you.
That’s basically the German pharmacies.
There are some bits and things that you can browse out in the main part of the pharmacy,
like sunscreen and some special makeups, maybe some lozenges.
But the actual medicine, even ibuprofen, to get that you have to stand in line and then
get it from the pharmacist.
But as far as prescription medications go, then it’s the same in both the U.S. and Germany.
In both countries, the prescriptions have to be filled by the pharmacists.
Also in America you can’t just go into the store and pick out your prescription antibiotics
on your own.
The pharmacists have to fill those prescriptions for you.
Okay so pros and cons now.
I would say that a very big pro of the German style is that you can ask the pharmacist for help.
You can tell the pharmacist what’s going on with you and they will help you figure
out what medication options are available.
And they’re also there to answer any questions about the medicines that you might have and
help you figure out how many to take and what, if any, side effects there could be.
So that’s really helpful.
And I have seen people in the German pharmacies talking with the pharmacists for a while,
and I myself have never felt rushed by the pharmacists.
They always answer any questions that I've had fully and completely.
So that is one thing that I really do appreciate here.
In the U.S. if you're buying non-prescription medication, you can also take that medication
over to the pharmacist and ask questions about it, of course.
But they are often really busy filling prescription medications, so from my experience I just
haven’t felt like as much help or as much explanation is available in the U.S. as in Germany.
A con of the German style is that I can’t browse all the medicines that are available.
I can’t just go to the store and see for myself everything that is available laid out
right there in front of me to compare and contrast them.
And the first way that this immediately affects me is the price.
I like that in the U.S. I can see exactly how much everything costs and then weigh my
different options, look at the generic options.
And I can feel totally comfortable taking as much time as I want to compare the prices
and my options and think about which one I want to go with.
Whereas in Germany you actually don’t find out how much something costs until the pharmacist
has already gone and gotten it and scanned it to ring it up.
And then you’re like: Oh my God! That’s 15 euros? No thank you. I don't want that. That's too much.
Are there any other options?
And the pharmacists know a lot, but they can’t possibly know about everything that is available.
And so sometimes I end up feeling like I'm always offered the same thing over and over
and over again.
And only when I do my research at home and then come into the pharmacy here in Germany
with the exact name of what I want, am I finally given other medications.
Which works, but I’ve found that it’s kind of tricky to do the research at home
when I can’t look and see everything that is available all laid out there in front of
me like I can in the U.S.
And one last difference is how the doctors communicate with the pharmacies.
In the U.S., sometimes a doctor will just call your prescription into the pharmacy.
For example, for a refill of something.
Like in my case, I experienced it with allergy medication refills.
Many times I didn't actually have to go back to my doctor for a new prescription each time.
The doctor just called the refill into the pharmacy for me, and then I could just go
there and pick it up.
Whereas in Germany, as far as I know, that's not possible.
I have to physically go to my doctor's office and pick up a new prescription there, and
then bring that prescription to the pharmacy.
So my question for you is: What’s been your experience at pharmacies around the world?
And which pharmacy style do you prefer?
Please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching.
I really hope that you enjoyed this video.
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videos possible.
Thank you so much for your support.
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the description box below.
Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
Until the pharmacist has already...
That's the same in both the U.S. and Germany. Both countries...
I bough...I bought.
Alright. Ready? - Uh-huh. - Okay. Shall we go? - Uh-huh. - Is it recording? - Yeah. - So I should just go? - Yeah.
Go now? - Yeah. - Now? - Uh-huh. - Now? - No. - Start talking now? - Yeah. - Now? - No. - Now? - No.
How about now? - No. - Now? - Yeah. - Yeah.