"May I Speak to the Pharmist?"

"May I speak to the pharmist about my ascription?"

Phrases like this are all too common where I work. The one good thing is that this is where a pharmacist can make some of the biggest impact. Educating and empowering patients is where I feel pharmacists can make as big of impact as actually getting patients their medication. With a estimated 9 million hospitalizations due to taking medications incorrectly (per the Institute of Safe Medication Practices) there is a lot of room to for pharmacists to help.

Some of my personal favorite moments, and a few of my least, in pharmacy come from talking to patients about there medication. I had one patient come in to my pharmacy about a month ago with 24 prescriptions all from the same medical facility. While working on his medications and doing a profile check I realized that he had just recently received a lot of these very same medication from another doctor at the same facility. To makes things even worse a lot of the prescriptions he brought in where for the same medication from different doctors. If these prescriptions would have been filled, possibly by one of the other pharmacies he also goes to, he would have been taking over 700mg of metoprolol, 120mg of lisinopril and over 400mg of furosemide to name a few.

When I approached the patient about his medications he said he didn't realize what he was taking or that he had duplicates. I quickly asked him a few more questions then explained the situation to him, needless to say he looked shocked at what I was telling him. When I got all of his medication ready I grabbed the gentleman a large pill organizer and explained to him how to take all of his medications and what they were for. I didn't want to confuse or scare him more by explaining side effects since he again, was part of the largely uneducated masses when it comes to medicine. He seemed pleased but still a little confused. I tried a little more but figured at least now he would be taking his medicine correctly if nothing else.

This was one small moment when I could definitely say I probably saved someone from one of the 9 million hospitalizations. Educating the masses can be tough and unfortunately will probably never be done fully. Although if they all were fully educated on these things I guess I would have to find a new line of work, so I shouldn't complain but rather do what I can to help.

I think sites like http://www.familydrugguide.com are a great idea. It also provides pharmacists a new place to direct patients to in times where they may be too busy to counsel. With all of the cut backs that have happened with more on the horizon this may only get worse. Sites like these can really help dumb down things and actually work as a good thing to help tie together what a pharmacist knows with what a patients wants/needs to know. This website even has smartphone apps which might be a good reference for caretakers of patients with complex drug regimens.

I can't say that a fully educated public will happen but as a pharmacist I and many others do our best to help those who need it. I am actually in the process of writing my congressman to push reimbursement for these issues and to show how bad some dispensing fees are. Every little bit helps to further pharmacy so patients can be better taken care while still providing a less stressful workplace for pharmacists

Although they may still say "askritshun", "pa-scription", "pharmist", and "that guy in the coat". Somethings just don't change!