Tracey Said:

what is the role of clinical pharmacists in chemotherapy ?

We Answered:

While I was on chemo, I saw a Clinical Pharmacist to manage the Coumadin I was taking. Coumadin is a blood thinner. I was taking 1mg a day just to make sure my port didn't clog up. Then, I had a PE and I had to go on higher doses of Coumadin and had to maintain a certain PT/INR. That was managed by a Clinical Pharmacist. The oncologist wrote out all the scripts for chemo, and the chemo itself was mixed by a Pharmacy Tech who was under the supervision of a Clinical Pharmacist. That's only my experience. Hope that helps.

Joshua Said:

Do you think Pharmacists should have more responsibility?

We Answered:

First of all, I think that pharmacists already have a very huge amount of responsibilty resting on their shoulders. Think for a moment about just one pharmacy near you, and then think about just how many prescriptions are filled in that one pharmacy per day. All of those Rxs are the responsibility of the pharmacist. He/she is responsible for it all, and if someone gets the wrong medication in their bottle due to a mistake, then the consequences can be extremley grave! There are many examples but one common one is those people who have serious allergies and if given the wrong meds, they could go into anaphalyxis and die. On top of having to be responsible for all of those scripts going out the door, they also get phone calls and consults all of the time from worried patients who want to know what they can and cannot take with their current list of medications, what they can and cannot give their child, whether or not the way they are feeling is a result of their medications, ect. So I would say they have plenty of responsibility.

I do believe that in most cases pharmacists know the most about drug compounds and I do not think it is a bad idea to consult your pharmacist when being prescribed a new drug, as most doctors are so overworked right now that they may not realize that the med they gave you is not the best one they could have with your list of medications. However, I do not think that a doctor should have to consult with a pharmacist before prescribing anything, as they had to go through a great deal of schooling as well, and are plenty capable of knowing pharmacology and staying up to date on new drugs and how they may impact a patients drug regimen.

I think that as things continue (if unchanged) then our medical professionals will continue to be overworked and forced to see more patients in one work day than they should ever have to. With that being said, I believe that the pharmacists role in patient care will probably increase just because they will have to pick up a lot of the slack that is left over from doctors not having the proper time to spend with their patients and really go over and explain the meds they are prescribing. Eventually, the pharmacists too, will probably have more patient consults than they can handle, and we will probably be in need of many more pharmacists in the days to come. Even considering all of the new drugs that are going to the market, would lead one to believe that pharmacology will be increasing substantially over the years to come.

George Said:

What is the role of a modern pharmacist?

We Answered:

In general you would package the medicine from the information on the prescription, type up the label (or enter it in the computer for a printout), and prepare the billing for the customer copay and the insurance pay.

In addition you would also ask the patient if they had any allergies that you would verify as not being a factor for the new medicine. You might call the doctor if the old prescription was expired. You would also talk about any side-effects if it was a new prescription. You would also answer any questions the patient had (and make sure they understood the directions on when and how to take the medicine).

Gail Said:

how can a citizen check a doctors dosing / check toxicity of medications/ drugs prescribed?

We Answered:

You can buy a Physician Desk reference or PDR. it describes every pill or meds. Enumerates their indications, dosage, side effects or adverse effects.


Doctors by virtue of their license prescribe the necessary medications. The duty of the pharmacist ( also licensed ) is to fill up the prescriptions. Both of them should work with an agenda that your best interest and welfare is considered.


Don't worry, when there is a question of a drug, the Pharmacist usually tries to contact your doctor for clarification. They are more familiar on any side effects.
Remember, both have licenses to protect.

Go to the links below for online drug resources:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drugi…

http://library.kumc.edu/omrs/diseases/dr…


If you're not sure about any drugs or even your diagnosis,;or issues pertaining to your health problems; don't hesitate to ask questions of the doctors.

Carlos Said:

What questions can i ask the pharmacist?

We Answered:

sounds very interesting, pharmacists have to do a long training period, when i worked in a hospital a lot of the doctors on our ward used to ask the pharmacist what medication would be best for a certain medical illness and what meds interacted with what, so interesting. you could start by asking the pharmacist what sort of things he can deal with 'over the counter' remembering members of the public are encouraged to talk to their pharmacist before going to their gp, this is only for certain things of course.. when you are doing the placement, wait and watch, questions will come into your head and do not be afraid of asking any of them even if they seem silly to you. the pharmacist would have had previous students so would have been asked lots of questions. you could also ask the pharmacist about side effects of some of the medications prescribed