Understand The Role Of Pharmacists

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The role of pharmacists has evolved from simply medication distribution to consultation services, recommendations on medications, follow-up reviews, and collaborating with other healthcare professionals. However, there has been discussion and studies done to understand what roles pharmacists should be held responsible for versus ones they should not be responsible for. These tasks have been evaluated based on how they improve the patient’s quality of life and the effectiveness of the healthcare system and health outcomes. In the study by Leape, the effectiveness of pharmacist participation on rounds in the ICU was evaluated. Pharmacists have been proven to decrease adverse drug effects (ADEs) and reduce costs when they participate on rounds …show more content…

They should not only educate patients about the medications they are taking and their current disease states, but they should also educate other healthcare professionals, specifically nurses and physician assistants. The interventions and services pharmacists provide have been shown to improve patient health, which can result in improved therapeutic safety and humanistic outcomes. A pharmacist is an expert about medications and disease states, so by sharing this information with other healthcare professionals it can create a more knowledgeable healthcare team that is better suited to serve patients. This can significantly decrease ADEs and other errors made by members of the healthcare team due to lack of specific drug …show more content…

In the POLYMED study, pharmacist participation in multiple at-home follow-ups appeared to have no effect on clinical outcomes or quality of life. Instead of doing home visits, pharmacists should complete follow ups only on new prescriptions for a short period of time depending on the nature of the drug. This follow-up intervention should be done in the pharmacy or over the phone, as home-visits were shown to be inefficient, costly, and time consuming. By following-up on new prescriptions, pharmacists are able to establish a connection and build rapport with their patients. Over the phone follow-ups with patients for new prescriptions are more effective and less time consuming than

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