Essay about Professionalism

I have witnessed a “burned out” nurse simply say to a client who is refusing a medication due to a side effect the client does not care for, ‘okay, I will just put refused and tell the doctor.’ This client needs educated about his/her choice. Most of the time, the client does not realize how refusing the medication can have a negative effect on his/her body overtime.

A professional is characterized by or conforming to the technical or ethical standards of a profession (2) : exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace. Being professional should be a subconscious effort in the fact that it should always be applied. When employees are professional it helps the system run more efficiently and safely. A person must me a certain criteria when being evaluated on professionalism, a person is judged based on the clients; Attitude, Values, Communication techniques, and approachability. Clients who display a committed, dependable attitude will benefit more from work exerted, and overall be rewarded with incentives. Although professionalism may be in the eye of the

Specialty pharmacy is based on the dispensing and managing medications based on the disease state. Some examples of this include but are not limited to cancer, HIV/AIDS, hemophilia, and immune disorders. Specific and continuous monitoring is required for many chronic conditions and generally there is a high cost for the use of certain medications. Specialty pharmacy plays a role in ensuring the best outcome for these conditions and the minimalization of adverse reactions. Some of the appealing aspects listed about these positions include being able to work with other fields or health professionals, spending a good portion of their time working with patients, and having a flexible schedule. The more negative aspects of this position include traveling, the amount of prescriptions processed, and some respondents stated there was low patient interaction. According to United Health Groups article The Growth of Specialty Pharmacy, due to new therapies and treatments spending on specialty pharmacy is growing by double digit numbers. In 2012 the spending on specialty drugs was estimated to be about $87 billion and it is suggested that spending is could increase to $400 billion by

In an article published by Consumer Reports in 2011, 660 physicians were questioned regarding “What Doctors Wish Their Patients Knew.” (Chesanow, 2014). The topic that gained first place in the list was concerning patient noncompliance to medication and treatment. (Chesanow, 2014). It is reported that about 50% of the medications are not taken as prescribed by clinicians (Brown & Bussell, 2011). As a matter of fact, the number of noncompliant patients have significantly risen to levels considered as an epidemic (Chesanow, 2014).

Counseling patients is extremely important; it allows pharmacists with the opportunity to better understand the health status of their patients. If a patient doesn’t know what, why or how to take their medication. We are the ones who help educate them. Better informed patients equates to better overall healthcare. If they are more medically literate before seeking our help, we can better assist them. As they begin to inquire more, it pushes health care providers to be more conscientious of their tasks. Greater care and consideration is taken when our patients can also hold us accountable. Encouraging patients to reach out with concerns or comments will benefit the pharmacist patient care process. For example, if the patient was able to identify that the drug name, though similar, were blatantly incorrect and brought it to the attention of her pharmacist they could have fixed it before the patient walked out the

For the past 6 years, I have been working as a full time Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) for a retail pharmacy chain, and over that 6 years something has slowly become very apparent to me with the patients who walk through our doors to fill prescriptions. A lot of them have gone from people who responsibly took their medications with no problems, to people who now seem to be struggling with properly taking their medication. The sad truth is most of them don’t know they are using medications wrong but their doctors have continued writing prescriptions for them anyway. Luckily most of the time it is for prescription antibiotics (medications the help fight bacterial

Before this module, I never really thought of inappropriate medication prescribing by a physician as a medication error, or the inappropriate use of a medication. I agree with you that as patient you need to tell your doctors all of the different types of medication that you are on, in order to help prevent any type of medication errors. My grandma is on a lot of medication, but when she goes to her doctors’ appointments, she makes sure she brings all of her medication with her. I find this to be helpful for herself and for her other doctors. Even though a patient may bring her list of medications or bring her medications with them, as a doctor you should still ask about her medication and if there are any that she may of forgotten. If a physician

Pharmacists usually see people regularly, and may see them more fre¬quently than their physician. This rap¬port allows pharmacists to ask question about self-care and home life. A phar¬macist often has time to ask about side effects in a casual setting when an indi¬vidual picks up their medication. With access to an individual’s full medication list, the pharmacist checks for drug in-teractions when a medication is added. The availability of a pharmacist allows people to check-in with their concerns, and as member of the health care com¬munity, a pharmacist can direct people to other needed community resources. Preventing polypharmacy is better than treating it because stopping a medica¬tion can be difficult. Pharmacists have a key role in this prevention. Patients and caregivers can play an active role by discussing a patient’s medication profile with their physician periodically. This allows that doctor and patient verify all the medications are still

Of course, there is no simple fix-all solution for this issue. It is something that need to be prevented by all involved members including pharmacy companies, doctors, and patients. They can all watch out for potential risk factors and ensure the patient is aware of the proper instructions. Patients should never take medications they are not prescribed and if they find themselves beginning to abuse the medication they should consult with their physician immediately (National Institute of Drug Addiction,

According to the Beth Lofgren’s article “Pharmacists Prepared to Implement MTM,” patients medicinal needs have been neglected. This negligence is often the result of primary care physicians’ or hospital physicians’ “continue without a second look” approach. Several patients are admitted to the hospital carrying a bag or a list of medications that they take at home; however, this list mostly remains unaltered after leaving the hospital. Physicians simply write for their patients to continue all medications, which can cause an increase in the duration of hospital visits, duplication in therapy, and medication interactions between home and hospital medications. Pharmacists, being the medication experts within the health care field, frequently intervene; however, with the current setup with distribution and clinical pharmacy, this error in patients’ medication needs slips through the cracks, thereby, causing the hospital to lose money and the patient receiving inadequate care. Pharmacists have adopted a way to reduce cost and improve patient care.

Pharmacists play a very important role in helping patients feel better and get well as quickly as possible. Patients tend to do better when pharmacists are part of their healthcare team because pharmacists are able to help manage their medications. Pharmacists improve medication adherence. They are clinically competent healthcare providers who communicate effectively to evaluate many factors that affect a patient’s ability to take a medication. These factors include diet, lifestyle, side effects, reactions, and much more.Pharmacists work with other health care professionals to help improve health outcomes. Numerous studies have proven that the presence of a pharmacist on hospital rounds as a member of the patient care team has been shown to

By the spring of 2005 there were over 240 pharmacist SP4 and the barriers to SP began to be recognised. As stated by Hughes et al these included financial and organisational problems, a general lack of awareness into the role as well as ‘over bureaucracy’ of the clinical management plan.5 Consultations in 2005 evaluated the option of further extending the prescribing role of pharmacists to allow patients greater access to healthcare services and pharmacist knowledge.1 Legal changes in 2006 introduced independent prescribing for pharmacists, enabling the prescribing of any licensed medicine for any medical condition

Patients do not have the full knowledge of what they put in their bodies so as health professionals, pharmacists must do their best to educate. By talking about the purpose of the medication, ways to use it, and the potential harm it can cause, people can improve their health the right way and avoid any serious injuries or risks. I believe that if pharmacists take more time to talk to their patients about over-the-counter medications, there will be less confusion and more understanding. Education is the key to a healthier future for both the pharmacist and the

Despite these negative notions, the extension of pharmacist prescribing has nowadays been perceived as generally positive with attitude shifts of health care professionals on pharmacist independent prescribing, supporting by approximately 35% shift of service delivery from doctors to pharmacists in Acute / Foundation Trust (Latter et al., 2010) and the possibly more importantly, acceptance by patients with 87% of patients are satisfied with the consultation with their PIPs (Latter et al.,

First of all, I discovered pharmacist-patient communication as one of the current topics in pharmacy practice. In fact, I realized that an ability to effectively communicate with patients was not only crucial to deliver a high-quality pharmaceutical care but also indispensable to maximize therapeutic outcomes. I also found out that keeping up-to-date with new development in pharmacy practice, new medications, new cost-effective therapy guidelines, new pharmacy practice regulations and current insurance policies was a lifelong commitment for all practicing pharmacists. The most challenging issue in pharmacy practice that caught my attention was the affordability of some medications and how the fate of some patients were dictated by the health insurance companies. Although pharmacists often spent a great deal of time on the phone trying to resolve the insurance problems, there were some expensive medications that might not be covered by some insurance plans. Having to explain this issue to a patient in desperate need of treatment who could not afford a costly prescription was very heart-rending and in my opinion was the toughest of all