Pharmacists Play Key Role in Patient Safety
Recent studies have shown that the addition of a pharmacist to the hospital rounds team can reduce medication errors among patients by as much as 75 percent. An expert discusses the changing role of pharmacists in today's health care environment.
Friday, November 7, 2003
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Durham, N.C. -- The traditional image of a pharmacist is someone who compounds
and dispenses medications in a retail setting. That image, and the
pharmacist's role in health care, is changing. Elizabeth
Mejia-Millan, a pharmacist in Drug Information at Duke University
Medical Center, says a growing number of hospitals now include a
pharmacist on the health care team making patient rounds.
"This is the model that's being taught and developed in pharmacy schools throughout the country. Throughout the next several years, the pharmacist will become much more integrated into patient care, reducing medication errors ultimately."
Mejia-Millan says more than 7,000 deaths due to medication errors occur each year in hospitals in the U.S. Recent research studies show that having a pharmacist as a member of the hospital health care team can cut the incidence of medication errors, and potential adverse drug reactions, dramatically.
"We see somewhere between a two-thirds and a four-fifths reduction in medication errors when pharmacists participate in patient rounds."
Mejia-Millan says having a pharmacist participate on the patient-care team will help ensure that patients receive medications that are appropriate, effective and safe.
I'm Cabell Smith for MedMinute.
