Health and Medicine

Questions: 1. What do you need to learn? 2. How is this learning relevant to the safe and effective practice of pharmacy? 3. Why do you think that this learning may be useful for your future practice? 4. What have you learnt? 5. Give an example of how what you have learned could be applied to patient care in your future role as a pharmacist 6. What have been benefits of these activities to your learning? Answers: 1. According to A.M White et al., front-line pharmacists require formal education and clear understanding of the subject to perform well in the pharmaceutical world (White et al., 2012). They form the middle ground between the practitioner and the patient. As far as educational background is concerned, to become a pharmacist an individual should have formal undergraduate education i.e. at least two years of college education. Then the individual should qualify the Pharm D level exam to become a qualifying pharmacist. But, if I intend to practice as a pharmacist I will need to learn some basic tactical approaches of good pharmaceutical practice. I will need to learn how to identify quality errors of medications to ensure that patients are always supplied with medicines of the highest quality. I will also need to learn about the laws of pharmacy practice and laws regarding supply of medications. There are several other things to learn if I want to have a successful career as a pharmacist. Some of the factors are: Ensuring that the medicines supplied are suitable for particular patient. Ensuring that all medicine related information is supplied to the patient. Supervising the pharmacy premises and the medicine supply chain. Advising patients and other professionals about safe and effective medicinal practice (DeLucenay et al., 2013). 2. Acquiring basic knowledge about pharmaceutical practices can help me, as a licensed and practicing pharmacist, to maintain basic safety and effective medical behavior in relation to maintaining patient well being. The pharmacy is at the first step of the medical flow-chart (Kripalani et al., 2012). Every patient with minor ailment is supposed to come to the pharmacy for an evaluation and a prescription before visiting the nurses or the GPs office. But I have noticed that with every passing year the number of patients in the pharmacy have dwindled to a minimal number. Patients tend to rely on the GPs advice even for minor ailments, this behavior is neither expected nor is it good for pharmacies. As per the recorded findings of Fielding et al., there are several practices that can enhance the pharmaceutical practice (Fielding et al., 2015). I am keen on maintaining high safety and effectiveness levels in my pharmacy. I keep a track of the medicines prescribed; I check the inventory regularly to check on the dates of the stored medicines and the amount of supply. I also promote healthy prescribing of medicines that is if a patient comes in with a minor ailment then most suitable medication is prescribed with the most suitable dose. This helps enhance the level of safety and effective practice in the pharmacy. 3. As per the statistics recorded by Paudyal et al., the future of pharmaceutical industry is bright (Paudyal et al., 2013). In my opinion we as pharmacists can change the face of the medical industry. Safe practices in the pharmacy can help keep the patients satisfied with the service they are getting. It can also help maintain the pharmacists good reputation (Kilcup et al., 2013). More patients will rely on the pharmacy in question and that will brighten the future of the pharmaceutical industry. After getting the required degrees in pharmacy, if I choose to follow the safe and effective practices then my practice will flourish, I will get more recommendations and people will learn to trust my medical decisions in case of minor ailments. My profile as a pharmacist will improve and my career will move forward. I will also be able to provide my patients will with clear instructions about their specific ailments which in turn will help them cope with their condition. The organizational level of the pharmacy I work in will increase which will help in managing the pharmacy better. Inventory management, quality maintenance and quantity check will be in order. All these practices will help improve my future prospects and improve minor ailment care in my pharmacy. 4. Based on the studies conducted by Watson et al., pharmaceutical help acquired from the pharmacist can help both the patient and the pharmacist (Watson et al., 2015). If the pharmacist spends enough time in learning about the basics of good pharmaceutical behavior during diagnosis and care of minor ailments then the chances of improving the level of service are high (Nightingale et al., 2015). As a pharmacist I have learnt: The perfect way to conduct one-on-one counseling sessions with patients with minor ailments. The way to conduct detailed assessment sessions describing treatments and recommendations to the patient. The inherent tactics of creating list of effective recommendations. How to independently prescribe medications and physician referrals to patients suffering from minor ailment. How to create a medical plan based on the expected outcome. How to keep a track on the inventory items and their dates. How to keep records of relevant documents. How to clear the doubts of the patient regarding his or her medical issue. How to contact and interact with a patients primary care provider. How to stay within the safety limits of pharmacy management. There are several other lessons to learn if I want to become a successful pharmacist. Along with customary education, common sense, legal knowledge and patient management strategy are required. Safety and comfort of the patient is the primary concern. Every recommendation should be based on acute analysis of the patients issues, healthcare program, present health condition and personal requirements. 5. Laws and regulations allowing licensed pharmacists to prescribe medicines independently came into effect in the year 2006 (Mak et al., 2013). Since then, pharmacists have been assisting patients by prescribing them medicines and by providing them medical instructions to follow. To qualify as an independent prescriber, a pharmacist has to complete an accreditation programme. The program allows pharmacists to offer medical advice, give medical opinion and prescribe any medication for any medical condition (Vemon, 2014). To prescribe medications to patients pharmacists should rely on prior experience from the program and common sense because the responsibility of the patients health lies on the shoulder of pharmacist alone. The lessons I have learnt about Pharmaceutical management practices have helped me in my daily role as a medical assistant in my patients life. For instance, I have learnt about the importance of inventory control and quality management. This in turn has helped me understand that providing my patients with high quality medicine is of utmost importance. This has helped build trust between me and my patient. Not only that, this has also helped me improve my understanding of medical categorization. My patients trust my opinion and choose my services over that of the GPs in case of minor ailments. 6. Learning about pharmaceutical management during cases of minor ailment has helped me improve as a pharmacist. Patients from all around the neighborhood come to me; from people with joint pain to people with repetitive bouts of cough and cold. The diagnosis is mostly different in each case. Explorative learning has helped me cope well in such situations. I can understand the problems better and my organizational skills as a pharmacist has improved exponentially. Moreover, I have learned about the importance of one-on-one sessions with my patients. This has created an air of confidentiality between me and my patients. They trust me with their minor medical problems. My communicative duties for the patient have also improved. I understand that it is my duty to provide all the disease related information to the patient I am treating so that he or she can cope well with the condition. Pharma is all about learning new things, I have learnt a lot of new things and hope to learn more (Fielding et al., 2015). References DeLucenay, A., Scott, M. A., Bunting, B. (2013). 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