F’S WISDOM: Patients live or die depending on the vigilance of the pharmacist.

There are innumerable stories about how pharmacists provide educational services to patients for free in attempt to save lives and/or prevent serious adverse reactions from occurring due to inappropriate therapy. These services are virtually always unpaid (I myself cannot think of an instance when such education is actually paid) and are never compensated; however, they are invaluable in patient health because THEY SAVE LIVES.

What are these services, you may ask? These are services to teach patients about their condition, the symptoms that are associated with the condition, medications that they may be taking for it and how to control it using lifestyle changes. The last point is perhaps the most important one, as they determine how effective the treatment will be in treating/curing the condition. Furthermore, they are conversations to assess how appropriate the therapies are in many aspects. We assess whether there is duplicate therapy or therapy that needs to be initiated, whether the doses are too high or low, what stage of therapy the patient is at based on the dosage that was given, whether it is even the right drug and whether the therapy is suitable based on the patient’s willingness to take medications. If we were only pill pushers, we wouldn’t have the cognitive skills to do these things rapidly.

How do these services save lives? Think of it this way. If a patient took too much of a narcotic analgesia like morphine or codeine, it will cause their breathing to stop by depressing certain fundamental activities in the brain. If a patient took two drugs together that prevent Drug A from eliminated in the body and Drug A is a blood thinner, they will suffer excessive bleeding in their body and will be admitted into the emergency room. (Wouldn't that be great for the healthcare costs?) If a patient does not realize that he/she could control diabetes using mainly diet and exercise, potentially with drugs to supplement the lifestyle changes, the patient may not be given the proper resources to live longer and healthier with improved quality of life. These are not mere examples that I had wished I had seen; these are everyday examples that are encountered not only by pharmacists, but pharmacy students in their practice in pharmacies as well. This is the reality.

F was completely right when he said that patients will live or die depending on our ability to be on the lookout for potential drug therapy problems and provide optimal patient services in education and health promotion. This is why we go to school for an extra 4 years. This is why we are primary care providers.

PHARMACISTS SAVE LIVES. This is the reality.