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The role of a primary care pharmacist

Pharmacy

Chris Freeman is a Brisbane-based pharmacist who works in a non-dispensing role. Non-dispensing means that he doesn’t supply patients with medications, which is usually done in a community pharmacy shop-front or hospital pharmacy setting. Chris works in a general practice (GP) clinic which has 16 full and part time GPs, as well as nursing and allied health professionals. In late 2012, an article was published which gave details of the work he did over a 3-month period.

 

So what did Chris get up to during the 296 hours he worked at the medical centre during these 3 months?

  • His main focus was Home Medicines Reviews, which made up 47% of the 296 hours. That is, patients who attended the medical centre were identified for a medication review by either their GP or the community nurse. Chris was given access to the patient’s medical records, where he could see results of pathology tests, letters from medical specialists and details of which medications have been trialled previously. Chris then consulted the patient usually in their home, and only in the medical centre under extenuating circumstances. He identified medication related problems such as side effects, the need for additional or fewer medications, and the potential for an adverse drug reaction.
  • He spent 7% of the time supervising pharmacy, medical and nursing students in the practice on practical placements.
  • The 7% of his time giving pharmaceutical opinions was made up of tasks such as answering questions about medications from GPs by email, phone or joining the GP-patient consultation.
  • Other activities included providing educational sessions for GPs, allied health professionals and nurses, and attending committee meetings in the clinic, such as quality improvement team meetings.

 

Here is the full breakdown in a graph:

 

Still want to know more about what a primary care pharmacist does? Check out the article here!!

 

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