March 29, 2018
Each March, Pharmacy Awareness Month is recognized to celebrate the contributions that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians make to our health-care system. This year the theme is Think Pharmacists, which is meant to encourage Canadians to think about the valuable services and advice their pharmacists provide.
At LHSC, both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are important members of the care delivery team and we’re proud to celebrate their role in providing safe, quality care to our patients.
Pharmacists are responsible for the safe and effective use of medications including:
- Reviewing and monitoring of drug therapy
- Collaborating with patients, physicians, nurses and other health discipline professionals to resolve drug related problems
- Counseling and educating patients about drug therapy
Pharmacy technicians are responsible for the technical aspects of drug distribution including:
- Preparing sterile and non-sterile compound products
- Packaging products
- Purchasing, billing and reconciliation
- Narcotic inventory control
- Supporting drug studies
- Liaising with nursing staff and other health-care providers on patient care
- Providing independent double checks of all medications prior to dispensing
The team frequently receives positive feedback from patients. Some of the most common feedback is with respect to how pharmacists take the time to answer their questions to ensure they understand their prescriptions, what they are meant to do, possible side effects and what to do should they experience any of those potential adverse effects. From the patient perspective, having this knowledge often helps to relieve some of the anxiety around their health concern and makes sure that patients feel that they are a partner in their medication management.
Pharmacy supports inpatient medication use and ambulatory care. LHSC also has three retail pharmacies that support outpatient prescriptions.
