Pharmacists In The Health Care Field

When many people think of pharmacists, they envision people in white coats behind counters counting pills. In reality, however, pharmacists play a much larger and more important role in the health care field. Pharmacists act as an important intermediate between doctors and patients and they are expected to be drug experts. They ensure that the medication the physician is prescribing is safe, effective, and appropriate. They help educate patients about how to take their medications, what their drugs are doing, and why it is important to be compliant and take their prescriptions as they are told. When a patient has a question about their medication regimen, pharmacists are usually more accessible than physicians and can provide guidance not only

One major form of writing that pharmacists rely on is online drug databases, such as LexiComp or Micromedex. These databases contain all of the relevant information on every drug. Pharmacists can use it as a reference to ensure an order for a medication is appropriate for what is being used for and that the drug dose and dosage form is suitable. Similar information can also be found in the package insert that is required to come with all drugs. This is helpful not only to pharmacists, but also to patients who are given the opportunity to read more about their medications. Also, pharmacists rely on journals, such as The American Journal of Health-System Pharmacists, Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, and The New England Journal of Medicine in order to stay up to date on new information both in the pharmacy world and the medical world in general. Additionally, there is a vast variety of websites that exist with information aimed at a wide assortment of audiences. Some are more basic and are aimed at the general public, while others are more sophisticated and clearly aimed at health care professionals. As a pharmacy student, websites for professional organizations are particularly relevant to me. They are helpful places to find out more about the profession and the different areas of pharmacy. They are useful in helping me narrow down what I may possibly want to do in the future, both for my next two co-ops and for my career after school. As someone who is particularly interested in clinical pharmacy, one of the most relevant websites to me is the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, or ACCP,