Pharmacists safety responsibilities

As pharmacists are responsible for the purchasing of medical devices, they will be involved with risks for other healthcare workers as well. They may know that the best prevention against NSI is the use of safety-engineered sharp devices (SEDs). There a two kind of SEDs [88] ... 

Make a list of potential questions including mechanism of action, safety profile, use in paediatric and elderly populations, benefit or lack of benefit in pregnancy. Write standard answers to these questions to ensure that the response to questions from physicians, pharmacists, government agency physicians and research workers represents the best currently available scientific and medical opinion and provides a response that is consistent throughout the world. 

A prescription is an order or plan, usually involving the taking of medicines, that a physician or medical practitioner gives to a patient. The physician or medical practitioner has the responsibility to ensure the effectiveness and safety of the prescription, while the patient has the responsibility to follow directions in taking the prescription. Based on a written or e-mailed prescription, pharmacists provide the medications to the patients. Prescription comes from the terms pre ( before ) and script ( written ), indicating that the prescribed medication is written before so the drug can be prepared by... 

To Err Is Human contains a four-part plan for decreasing the number of medical errors, and each part has implications for the pharmacy profession. To provide leadership and a research focus for patient safety. Part one recommends the creation of a center for patient safety within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Pharmacy organizations and pharmacists have the opportunity to contribute by including the study of medical errors in their applied research agendas. Using their expertise, pharmacists can provide input to the national goals, their content, and professional responsibilities for medicahon safety. ... 

Another major function of the Medical Affairs department is that of providing information about a company s products. Their customers range from fellow healthcare professionals to the public and internal company clients. The frontline is usually comprised of nurses and registered pharmacists who respond to telephone and written requests for medical information about products, spanning clinical safety and efficacy questions. Companies often offer this service as needed and most can respond to clinical questions within 24 h of a request with specific and detailed information. A frequently asked question document is prepared to enhance rapidity of response. If this document does not provide the needed information, further research by Medical Information specialist, often in collaboration with internal clinical staff, is... 

Pharmacists assume overall responsibility for the acquisition, preparation, handling, and distribution of antineoplastic agents within their healthcare system. Pharmacists are necessary to ensure optimal safety and minimal expo-... 

The pathway to assuring the safe and effective use of short-lived radiotracers is to place the responsibility for quality assurance in the hands of nuclear pharmacists who fill physician s prescriptions for radiotracers as they do for other drugs under state pharmacy laws. Radiochemists or others working in institutions with radiopharmacies must have the expertise for the preparation of the radiotracers as well as for quality control under good manufacturing practices. This hook provides guidance and safety standards applicable to Tc-99m pharmaceuticals. 

Other additives such as antimicrobial agents, antioxidants, buffers and tonicity-adjusting agents can be included in injection formulations and it is the responsibility of the pharmacist to check that all excipients and adjuvants are suitable (benzyl alcohol, ethanol, sulfites, sodium content, etc.). Nevertheless, one is left with a difficult choice over excipients, either those for which toxicity is known and therefore predictable, or those with safety profiles that have not been established in children (see under Critical excipients, page 55). The pH and osmo-larity of the preparation must also be checked before administration by another route. 

Casey Hooke, advanced practice nurse and creator of the Safety Action Team (SAT) concept, defines SATs as department- or unit-based interdisciplinary work groups that provide a "think tank" for staff to identify safety concerns, process them, and brainstorm new ways to address them (Hooke, 2002). Group membership varies according to individual needs, but SATs strive to include members who represent the continuum of care for the patients they serve. SATs include registered nurses, physicians, pharmacists, respiratory care practitioners, child-life specialists, unit service coordinators, and members of the management team. The group is chaired by a staff leader, or sometimes by two staff leaders who share the responsibility. 

Another challenge appears, when a professional pharmaceutical decisimi has to be made when a patient or physician insists (Ml the preparation of a medicinal prcxluct that should not be made available e.g. because of lack of scientific evidence on efficacy or lack of safety. This scenario is not uncommon in a community pharmacy. The responsible pharmacist has to decide whether or not the prescription will be prepared and dispensed to the patient. 

For safety reasons the UK regulatory authority has recommended that oral TAC products be described and dispensed by brand name only, in order to ensure maintenance of fherapeutic response when a patient is stabilised on a particular brand, and to minimise the risk of inadverfenf swifching befween products from different suppliers [51 ]. Graft rejection and TAC toxicity have resulted when products have been unintentionally switched. If a prescriber considers that switching a patient to a different brand of oral TAC would be of benefit, the change requires careful supervision and monitoring by an appropriate specialist. It is also advised that pharmacists always dispense the exact brand prescribed and that they contact the prescriber if the prescription is not clear, in order to ensure the appropriate medicine is dispensed, and that patients should take careful note of the brand name of their usual formulation and should check with their doctor if fhey receive a different brand. 

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