 |
| (Google Image) |
By Nurse Diane
Yesterday I told you about hot toddy's…and the chant from
Ole Miss, a major university here in Mississippi. Well Ole Miss is known for more things
besides football, and drinks. It also
has a superior medical school and pharmacy school. I should know, my uncle, my father's brother,
graduated from Ole Miss with a degree in Pharmacy. Following graduation, he began a career with
Upjohn, a drug manufacturing company, and he visited local doctors educating
them about the new drugs that were currently on the market that would help
their patients.
 |
| (Google Image) |
Pharmacology, the study of medicines, is a very difficult
field to practice. When I was in nursing
school, I had to complete a course in pharmacology. Not only did we have to learn about the drug,
we had to learn how it worked, what medications it worked with or against, what
side effects it may have. There are
thousands of medications out there too!
Not only are there several medications, but there are also several
different categories. You have a group
of drugs that work on pain, a group of meds for sleeping, antibiotics,
allergies, the list is endless.
 |
| (Google Image) |
Of course no one can be expected to learn all the
medications, that is why there is a PDR, or physician's desk reference that
lists all the medications and their properties. However a pharmacist must be able to know
about the different categories, and their actions and interactions with other
medications.
 |
| (Google Image) |
Pharmacists have a long and tired day on the job. Several hours filling prescriptions, standing
on their feet, and dealing with insurance companies and doctor's offices all
day. Rarely do they have time to
interact with customers but when they can, they are knowledgeable about the
medications they are dispensing. Each medication
has to be verified several times, when they remove the pill from the shelf, it
has to be verified. When they read the
prescription, it must be verified again, when the amount is counted out, it
must be verified again. and when it
placed in the bottle with the name of the patient, if must be verified
again. These checks make the possibility
of an error decrease. Pharmacists take
extra precautions to ensure that the right person receives the right
medication.
Today is National Pharmacist day, so if you happen to go
to a drug store, don't forget to give a shout out to the pharmacist there, and
let them know you appreciate their job.
And to my Uncle TD, Happy Pharmacist Day!!
No comments:
Post a Comment