Orthopedic hospital pharmacy?

[henryaa]

Has anyone had any experience in an orthopedic hospital pharmacy? What are some of duties, experiences?

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[Dalteparin]

I've covered an orthopedics unit and it's basically a day off. DVT prophylaxis and counseling are the biggest duties; other than that, it's a cakewalk. You dose vancomycin or gentamicin once a month and you might have one TPN per year. If you can handle doing coumadin teachings 100 times a day and nurses who treat you like a retail pharmacist, you'll be fine.

 

[type b pharmD]

There is a good amount of warfarin micromanaging, but with the transition lately to xarelto, becoming less of an issue. Xarelto teaches are mildly interesting for your first few times. Other than that , agree with above. I had two ortho rotations.. wished I had opted for a different service.

 

[xiphoid2010]

I think the op might be asking something more along the line of an orthopedic surgical specialty hospital. Had a recruiter sent me one recently. Not sure what it would be, but i'm assuming familiarity with SCIP guidelines and surgical/anaesthesia drugs would be a big plus.

 

[Sparda29]

We have an orthopedic wing at my current hospital. The one thing that annoys the **** out of me is how useless the orthopedic surgery residents are when it comes to actual medical stuff.

Example: Patient will come in for a hip replacement surgery and they are on a variety of meds for a variety of conditions. Orders come down, we notice a med is ordered incorrectly and call them to correct it. Instead of just saying yes change it, they go "uhhh hold on, uhh let me talk to the house MD" or I get the "call the PCP" or "that's what was on the med rec sheet, I'm just ordering what's written on there."

 

[Dalteparin]

I think the op might be asking something more along the line of an orthopedic surgical specialty hospital. Had a recruiter sent me one recently. Not sure what it would be, but i'm assuming familiarity with SCIP guidelines and surgical/anaesthesia drugs would be a big plus.

I don't see how that'd be much different from an ortho unit at a general hospital - maybe a slightly higher chance of complicated cases. Ortho patients just aren't that complicated; if they deteriorate, they get moved to a different unit (or, likely in the case of a specialty hospital, a different hospital).

 

[xiphoid2010]

I don't see how that'd be much different from an ortho unit at a general hospital - maybe a slightly higher chance of complicated cases. Ortho patients just aren't that complicated; if they deteriorate, they get moved to a different unit (or, likely in the case of a specialty hospital, a different hospital).

Specialty hospitals are relatively small, so there isn't a defined role like a pharmacist working on an ortho floor of a general hsopital. For example the ortho specialty hospital pharmacy probably has one pharmacist on staff per shift, so the lone RPh will likely also be providing surgical/anesthesia drugs, normal dispensing, clinical and administrative duties... basically everything.