Monday, August 8, 2011

I have a question about pharmacy career?

Diane provided a good response. The misconception the pharmacy profession has had a difficult time correcting is that we "follow orders." When you think about it, a prescription is really an authorization to dispense, not an order to dispense. The pharmacist's job is to evaluate that prescription and determine if it is both safe and appropriate for the patient to whom it has been prescribed. If the pharmacist determines it is either not safe or appropriate (or a safer/more appropriate alternative exists) s/he has a legal and ethical obligation NOT to dispense it (this happens very frequently, and is remedied by consulting with the prescriber to find a more appropriate course of action; we're a team, after all...). The pharmacist basically acts as a double-check to make sure the most appropriate medication is dispensed to the patient to treat a particular ailment.

No comments:

Post a Comment