Role of a Pharmacist in today’s society ...by Vijaya Ratna madam
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Role of a Pharmacist in today’s society
Prof. J Vijaya Ratna
AU College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam
This is Shishir Dev doing my 2nd year B.Pharm in Raghu College of Pharmacy. As a part of our National Pharmacy Week – 2008 Celebrations, we had an opportunity to interact with Dr. J. Vijaya Ratna Mam, Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology, Andhra University during our Valedictory function. With her speech we were made familiar about Schedule-H drugs and she given handouts to all of us before she started her speech. I like to share the handout given by madam with all my dear friends available in this site.
The content in the hand out in her own words…….
“A person who studies B.Pharm and M.Pharm in our country studies about 40 subjects and becomes empowered to play multiple roles in the society. He can go into any one of the different fields such as the pharmaceutical industry, the drug regulatory agencies, the research laboratories, the hospitals or the sale of medicines. In each of these fields he would be using different types of knowledge bases and different varieties of skills. But though all these different fields are there where a pharmacist plays an active role, the pharmacist’s activity domains may be broadly classified into two; one is the professional area another is the technical area. When we say that a pharmacist is practicing his profession, we mean that he is employed in either a hospital or in a community pharmacy which means a medical shop. Briefly, when we use the word pharmacist, we imply that he is a registered pharmacist and is employed in a professional role in a hospital or in a medical shop. A pharmacy degree or PG degree holder may be employed in an industry but he is not practicing his profession.
Depending upon where he is placed a pharmacist will be carrying on a number of duties. A pharmacist who is in the profession will be working in a hospital or in a medical shop. In a hospital he may be working as a clinical pharmacist or as a hospital pharmacist. In both these capacities he will be doing a number of duties requiring technical skills, such as dispensing, therapeutic drug monitoring, organizing a drug information center, developing guidelines for rational drug use, helping with pharmacoeconomics, giving patient counseling and doing drug store management. Among all these duties the duty which is having maximum interface with the public is giving patient counseling during dispensing.
Patient counseling is defined as providing medication information orally or in written form to the patients or their representatives on directions of use, advice on side effects, precautions, storage, diet and life style modifications. The patient should be told a number of points such as why, how, at what time and with what liquid he should take the medicines. The patient should be told about how the medicine is to be removed from the package, how it should be administered, what the usual side effects are, whether there are any drug interactions, whether there are any food drug interactions and how long he should take the medicines.
For example when antibiotics and antifungals are being dispensed the following is the advice to be given to the patient.
ANTIBIOTICS AND ANTIFUNGALS
Many different types of drugs are used to treat infections caused by bacteria and fungi.
1. Tell your doctor about any skin rashes you may have had with antibiotics or that you get while taking this medication. A rash can be a symptom of an allergic reaction, and allergic reactions can be very serious. 2. Tell your doctor if you experience diarrhea. 3. if you are using birth control, consult with your health care provider because some methods may not work when taken with antibiotics. 4. be sure to finish all your medication even if you are feeling better. 5. Take with plenty of water.
Thus the pharmacist is a DRUG EXPERT who carries out valuable, knowledge based duties and serves the community in a very dutiful manner.”
Groups:
Good understanding, but....
Well, shishir, you have done a good job by trying to squeeze in so much of information in such a short a write up.
But, What every student of Pharmacy intending to get into hospital service should understand are:
Hospital pharmacy is a job of drugs logistics management that includes, warehouse (Store) designing, Assessment of infrastructure needed, stock quantity Unit [SQU} requirement,Infrastructure requirement, capacity building exercise, inventory management obviating scarcity and loss, procurement policy and procedures, budget assessment, expenditure planning and review, vendor evaluation, contract fixation and compliance, payment schedules, SOP for procurement, GRN processing, stocking pattern, issue / distribution and dispensing, stock audit, quality audit of the process and that of the material,demand monitoring and analysis,information management, manpower management, communication with end users etc to ensure the end users are comfortable with a assured availability of materials to serve the patients. The patient counseling is limited to reinforcing what has been prescribed so far as the clinical input is concerned plus simple advises on how to store the medicine at home.
Clinical pharmacist is a supportive pharmacist to the clinical team who can dwell into the prescribing issues by following the protocol and SOP of clinical pharmacy.
Hospital pharmacy should not assume the role of a clinical pharmacist and vice-versa with the clinical pharmacist.But both are equally important to the therapeutic service in the hospital.
Here are few tips to the pharmacist desiring to serve in a hospital:
1. Keep on observing the prevailing system of drugs and drugs store management right up to the point of dispensing and administration to the inpatients.
2. Understand the policy, rules and conventional procedures including the
financial scope and constraints prevailing in the hospital drugs management
3. Strictly avoid revolutionary changes but always prefer to go by reforms however slow it may be.
4.. Slowly move in to reduce the repetitive tasks if any and provide such methods that reduce their manual labour taking due care that any accountability that exists is not taken out. This will make the staff happy.
5. Sit happily with the staff and start documenting the data in the existing format only. Study the existing documentation system. Identify the repetitive areas and areas that are lacking in providing full data on drug movement.
6. Make a new pilot plan and format to overcome such duplication and deficiency and work it out by yourself and request a junior colleague to verify and put it up for implementation only after you feel it is satisfactory.
6. Keep your eyes and open to understand the practical difficulty if any experienced by the staff before and after introduction of your new system either in documentation or in physical handling of drugs.
7. Always keep 'Acceptability' by the staff in mind with a vision of providing good material at right time to the patient with due accountability.
Example:
It is likely that in a Government hospital the tablets and capsules are purchased in bulk packing and distributed to the patients in loose units. The drugs collected by the nurses in a tray from the stores. The trays may or may not be having partitions / lids to separate drugs from one another and to keep them covered. Different drugs in tablets / capsules from may have same colour and shape and size and the staff though would be going by experience in identifying one from the other, the possibility of mix up cannot be ruled out.
What the pharmacist should do in such a situation? Instead of talking like a big boss but help the staff to segregate one from the other, label and keep the drugs well closed
Bottom line:
Reforms are long lasting than revolutions
Thank you,
Good luck
Bhagavan P S
posribha@gmail.com
About myself:
I am a B Pharm graduate from Government College of Pharmacy (1969 batch), Bangalore. Iwas a Community pharmacist, a teacher in Pharmacy, a hospital Pharmacist and I retired as Deputy Director (Pharmacy) from Government of Karnataka.
Latter,
I served as Hon’ry professor in various Pharmacy colleges in Bangalore
and as Central Procurement Officer in M/s Manipal Cure and Care P ltd, Bangalore and now I am sharing my experience and knowledge through critical and constructive write ups to highlight the lacunae in the pharmacy profession and to suggest remedial measures.
Thnaks for such an informative write up
Thanks Mr. Bhagavan for sharing here your experience. This will be of great help to peoples who are new in this field.
Just for one line I would like to amend you that now medicines are coming packing and not supplied loose in hospitals to patients.
I request you kindly do share your experience with us.
And I would like to congratulate that you reached upto the post of Deputy Director (Pharmacy).
nice conclusion
"Thus the pharmacist is a DRUG EXPERT who carries out valuable, knowledge based duties and serves the community in a very dutiful manner.”
Satyanarayana Juluri
http://www.pharmainfo.net/satyaproject09
Dear sir, Its very great of
Dear sir,
Its very great of you to share such valuable information with us.
Thanks
Aishwarya
Yes, its a responsibility of us.
Dear shishir,
That is a wonderful seminor by Madam, Hopefully all the pharmacist will work together to bring a change in the society.
Regards
Kranthi
" KINDLERS "
www.pharmainfo.net/kranthikumar
Regards
Kranthi
http://www.pharmainfo.net/kranthikumar
KINDLERS
http://www.pharmainfo.net/blog/kindlers
Good Job!!!
Its very nice to see you sharing the thoughts of Mrs.Vijaya ratna mam..
Regards
Bhavani Prasad
http://www.pharmainfo.net/bhavani-prasadv
Bhavani Prasad
http://www.pharmainfo.net/bhavani-prasadv
Hi shirish, It
Hi shirish,
It is very great to know the thoughts of vijaya ratna madam n we r very thankful to you for sharing such thoughts n thanks to ur mam for showing the right way or roles by which a pharmacist do his duty in dynamic way
hi
good job shishir.really inspire with thatt lecture. and that credit goes to u only as u r sahring the speech of Vijaya Ratna madam along with other pharmacy learners.
-gopidalai
-gopidalai
http://www.pharmainfo.net/bobby3nad
My Team :
http://www.pharmainfo.net/blog/elegance
nice to share.....
hiii .nice of u sharing the lecture .. the article boost the pharmacy learners ...thanks to ur mam n u for sharin the duites of the pharmacist .... varsu
varsu
Nice work
Good work shishir... It was really great for us to know vijaya ratna madam's sppech and it is really really interesting and inspiring... Thank you...
Hi Shishir
It is good on your part sharing the news known to you with all the friends.
Keep on posting such valuable news.
Roja Rani.
Regards
Roja Rani
KINDLERS Team