By: Charles George, Pharm.D.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Charles George, Pharm.D. is a recent graduate from the University of Florida in 2011.\u00a0 He currently works as a community pharmacist for Walgreens Pharmacy in the Central Florida area. \u00a0Since graduation, his daily interaction with patients revealed the need for pharmacists to adapt to the evolving role of community pharmacy.\u00a0 Thus, he wrote this article to reflect on an emerging aspect of pharmacy.<\/i><\/p>\n
Disclaimer: We have altered the scenarios and names in this article to protect patients\u2019 privacies. The scenario is based on true events.<\/i><\/p>\n
It is 6:30pm in the community pharmacy.\u00a0 The usual after-work rush is winding down.\u00a0 You can just feel the sense of relief in the air.\u00a0 The pharmacy technician takes a deep breath and slowly exhales.\u00a0 She looks out to make sure there is no one else waiting, but she soon hears footsteps coming closer.\u00a0 The technician hopes that it is someone just walking by or shopping for some vitamins.\u00a0 However, it is a woman maybe in her 40\u2019s in disheveled clothing.\u00a0 The woman approaches the pharmacy counter carrying something in a white shopping bag. \u00a0Releasing a big sigh of relief as she glares into the eyes of the technician, the woman states, \u201cI hope you can help.\u201d \u00a0Watching and listening, the pharmacist, just three few weeks removed from licensure, takes a small gulp, murmurs under his breath, \u201cLord, I hope I did not miss-fill a prescription.\u201d \u00a0The white shopping bag contains about 10 medication bottles, and some have their labels fading and are barely readable. \u00a0The woman at the counter, in a very tiresome voice, asks, \u201cWhat are these medications?\u201d<\/p>\n
While community pharmacists are the most accessible health professionals, their presence is frequently invisible to patients. \u00a0May be as far as six years ago, the pharmacist was \u201cThe Wizard\u201d in the back, appearing to the window only if \u201csummoned.\u201d \u00a0Today, it is common to see pharmacists engaging with every patient, and empowering patients to take control of their own health needs. \u00a0Pharmacists are administering vaccines, providing health tests, and counseling on over-the-counter products. \u00a0However, we still do not full realize the community pharmacists\u2019 best assets.\u00a0 Pharmacists are medication experts, and have profound abilities to communicate with patients about their medications and disease states. \u00a0Yes, medication therapy management (MTM) would be the best word to describe the new role of pharmacists.<\/p>\n
As the above incident unfolds, the pharmacist steps in to help, and invites the woman to sit down in the pharmacy\u2019s break room. \u00a0The woman is the sole caretaker of her mother (the patient), who has Alzheimer\u2019s disease. \u00a0Until few months ago, a home nurse cared for the patient; however, the patient\u2019s symptoms progressed and she moved in with her daughter. \u00a0During the conversation, the pharmacist explains the medications\u2019 indications and writes down the important counseling points.\u00a0 He also provides the woman with a pill organizer.\u00a0 The pharmacist discovers a few undertreated diseases, duplications of therapy, and symptoms of potential drug-induced adverse events. \u00a0He also provides information about the disease states. \u00a0Even then, there is something quite not right about the situation: the woman\u2019s appearance.\u00a0 The pharmacist reaches his hand over her shoulder, and asks, \u201cHow are you doing Ms. Jame?\u201d \u00a0Her eyes swell with tears as she lifts her head up.\u00a0 She looks at the pharmacist sitting in front of her, and proclaims in a broken voice, \u201cI am trying to be strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
MTM is an overlooked and valuable service that pharmacists provide. \u00a0In the patient-centered healthcare model, MTM reduces healthcare costs. \u00a0However, due to the lack of reimbursement for the time and other factors, many pharmacies and pharmacists are shying away from this important service. \u00a0Ms. James, who walked into the pharmacy six years ago, may not have gotten a chance to see the pharmacist. \u00a0The technician simply could have taken the bottles to the pharmacist and written their indications on the labels.<\/p>\n
Medication and disease state knowledge are always involved in MTM.\u00a0 However, asking open-ended questions, being empathetic, finding the best way to communicate, and confirming patients\u2019 understandings are the principles that bring everything together. \u00a0When Ms. Jame arrived to the counter, I was able to utilize the lessons that my professors and preceptors repeatedly drilled me on. \u00a0I have had several encounters with Ms. James, and I am glad that I can provide her with information about support groups for Alzheimer’s patients.\u00a0 Nowadays, she is in better spirits; we consolidated and explained her mother\u2019s medications to her.<\/p>\n
I believe that if you are ready to show your value as a pharmacist, the recognition will follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By: Charles George, Pharm.D. – Charles George, Pharm.D. is a recent graduate from the University of Florida in 2011.\u00a0 He currently works as a community pharmacist for Walgreens Pharmacy in the Central Florida area. \u00a0Since graduation, his daily interaction with patients revealed the need for pharmacists to adapt to the evolving role of community pharmacy.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[75,343,1160,198,15,13,2227,314,20,14,363,968,1625,19,12,11,2270,628,2252,2234,1161,2240,1061],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-advice-opinions","tag-alzheimer","tag-and","tag-control","tag-daily","tag-disease","tag-drug","tag-ebola-virus-disease","tag-for","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-of","tag-one","tag-or","tag-patient","tag-pharmacist","tag-pharmacy","tag-pharmacy-technician","tag-right","tag-symptoms","tag-technician","tag-therapy","tag-walgreens","tag-with"],"views":540,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhochistj.org\/RhoChiPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}