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march is Pharmacy Awareness Month!
As we celebrate Pharmacy Awareness Month through March, the BC Branch of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists would like to highlight the important and diverse roles pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who work in hospitals, clinics and across health authorities in British Columbia play in ensuring patient safety and improving health outcomes.
Did you know?
- Pharmacy technicians and pharmacists work on the front line in patient care and behind the scenes to manage medication use and provide drug information, helping to build a medication system that is safe, effective, and efficient.
- Their work helps to inform the decisions of hospital committees responsible for initiating and reviewing programs, policies, guidelines, and other tools to promote safe, appropriate, and cost-effective medication use within the institution.
- Their participation in the health care team results in results in better health outcomes for patients, improved patient safety, and reduced healthcare costs.
Hospital and health authority pharmacy technician and pharmacist roles include:
Pharmacy Informatics
- Focus on how information systems acquire and store data and how those data are analyzed, used, and disseminated in support of high-quality healthcare
Drug Information
- Answer requests for drug information, including current approaches to therapy, clinical alternatives and compatibility and stability of drugs given by injection
Medication Safety
- Analyze data about medication incidents and share information to help prevent medication incidents
Drug Use Evaluation
- Study patterns of medication use (in terms of safety, effectiveness, and economics) and develop, implement and evaluate practice changes that promote safe, appropriate, and cost-effective drug use
Procurement and Inventory Management
- Purchase drugs for use in the hospital and ensure that they are kept safe and secure for use and find suppliers of alternative drugs in response to drug shortages
Direct Patient Care
- Partnering with patients to help them achieve their desired health goals, together with the multi-disciplinary health care team
It has been particularly exciting to see the expanding role of pharmacy technicians in direct patient care in the hospital system in BC. At Lions Gate, Surrey Memorial, Squamish General, Richmond and other hospitals, regulated pharmacy technicians are talking with patients and their families, liaising with other healthcare providers and reviewing patient medication records as part of taking a Best Possible Medication History (BPMH) in emergency departments, dialysis units and other clinical areas. This BPMH information forms part of the patient care record and helps to enable smooth transitions of care as patients move from one place of care to another, such as from hospital to home.
Thank you to all pharmacy professionals who provide excellent care every day of the year across health authorities in BC!
The Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP) is the national voluntary organization of pharmacists committed to patient care through the advancement of safe, effective medication use in hospitals and other collaborative healthcare settings.
CSHP supports its members through advocacy, education, information sharing, promotion of best practices, facilitation of research and recognition of excellence.
