Clinical pharmacy is the area of practice within the health organization in which the pharmacist, through his work within an interdisciplinary team, applies his clinical judgment to assure safe and appropriate use of Medications.
The clinical pharmacist is involved in medical rounds with the other health care professionals to provide the following service:
- Pharmaceutical care
- Answering Medication information queries to physicians & other health
professionals - Education &training services
- Patient counseling
- Participation in medication use evaluation
In addition to the above mentioned functions, several other functions are being introduced in the field of clinical pharmacy, but rather in a specialized form. Examples of these are:
- Clinical pharmacokinetics.
- Total parenteral nutrition services.
- Clinical toxicology practicing in formal poison information centers.
- Clinical Medication investigations.
- Formal Medication therapy consultations.
- Specialized clinical pharmacy practice in various medical fields like oncology, nephrology, surgery, pediatrics, intensive care, and others.
Such specialization requires specialized training under what is called residency programs and others.
Based on the patient type clinical pharmacist job description can be devided into two major categories:
- In-patient care
- Out-patient care
Related: Prediabetes Management Guidelines
1. In Patient Care
Must be involved in medical rounds with the other health care professionals and participates in:
- Collecting and organizing patient-specific information.
- Determining the presence of medication-therapy problems.
- Summarizing patients’ health care needs.
- Specifying pharmacotherapeutic goals.
- Developing a pharmacotherapeutic regimen and corresponding monitoring plan in collaboration with the patient and other health professionals.
- Initiating the pharmacotherapeutic regimen.
- Monitoring the effects of the pharmacotherapeutic regimen.
- Documenting pharmaceutical care plan on a specially designed record
- Answering Medication information queries to physicians &
other health professionals. - Patient education and counseling.
2. Outpatient care
Clinical pharmacists working in outpatient clinics especially that provide direct care to high-risk patients, including those with severe diabetes, those on anticoagulants, renal impairment and others.
Responsibilities:
- Medication reconciliation
- Monitor patients according to key indicators
- Adjust medication doses as necessary
- Improve patient compliance
- Repot medication errors
- Educate patients and providers about managing these conditions
Read also: Major Job Responsibilities of a Clinical Pharmacist