Pharmacist Opportunities

The Evolving Role of Pharmacists
 
In the past, pharmacists, including those in the Americas, served as community caregivers, even diagnosing and managing ailments by compounding individual remedies. With the advent of commercialized drug production, increased regulation and legislative action, standards of practice have evolved which, in many ways, prevented patient interactions rather than encouraging them. Pharmacists from the 1940s to the 1960s did not routinely counsel patients and did not even customarily put the name of the dispensed drug on the drug label. This protocol was reversed in the late 1970s. By the 1980s, pharmacists were once again playing a more integral role in direct patient care.

Today, the pharmacist plays an essential role as part of the healthcare team. Our professional responsibilities cover five essential areas:

1. Drug delivery and medication safety

   In the provision of pharmaceutical care, physicians generally head the healthcare team, while the pharmacist enters the patient care continuum after the prescription has been written. Following the rules on rational drug therapy to maximize safety of medications: delivering the right drug, identifying the correct dosage and times it is to be taken, labeling it accurately and clearly, and administering to the right patient while listing potential side effects are just a few of the pharmacist’s well-known responsibilities. Each new prescription demands that the pharmacist reviews it in conjunction with other information we have about the patient. This is a critical role that the pharmacist is in the best position to perform.

    
2. Patient education and advocacy

   Today, patient counseling is obligatory in every state in the US. The pharmacist ensures that the patient knows the name of the prescribed drug, what it is for, how and when it is to be taken, how to minimize possible interactions with other drugs (prescription or OTC) and foods, and optimal storage. The pharmacist serves as a critical checkpoint for matters that are not clear to the patient during the patient-prescriber or patient-nurse interactions.

    
3. Monitoring drug therapy

   Pharmacists play a key role in helping patients maximize their pharmaceutical care by acting as a support system in disease management programs. For example, it is estimated that up to fifty percent of all patients on medication for hypertension do not have their pressure under control because they lack regular follow-up. Pharmacists are ideally suited to track individuals on these medications and help them obtain proper follow-up. Blood pressure machines can be set up in pharmacies where pharmacists can explain to the patient the meaning of those numbers. Since most insurance companies mandate refills every 30 days, this is a particularly useful service that provides a perfect opportunity to involve patients in their own care.

    
4. Partnership with other members of the healthcare team

   Pharmacists interact regularly with prescribers as well as with nurses, especially in reviewing patient charts for possible medication-related problems like drug interactions and adverse effects. Collaborative efforts are likewise spent with community health workers, medical technologists and physical therapists.

    
5. Research and clinical studies.

   Our strong relationships in the community are newly appreciated by medical professionals, such that pharmacists now play a participative role in clinical studies. Pharmacists are being recruited to do community-based research in the post-marketing surveillance of drugs. A recent Impact Study from the American Pharmaceutical Association of 400 patients recruited by 30 pharmacies found that quarterly coaching or feedback on how well patients were managing their cholesterol boosted patient compliance with therapy from 37 percent to 94 percent a year after diagnosis.

    

Career Opportunities

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