Why we need pharmacists?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

PharmlyDoc

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
May 12, 2013
Messages
212
Reaction score
37
So yesterday I was on the phone with my friend (who is uneducated and only attended cc for a semester to study music), and he said that he could do a pharmacists job, and all he would need is a computer to look stuff up online. I wanted to slap him silly.

I'm an upcoming p1. What kind of examples can I give him about why pharmacists (and their yeArs of education) are necessary?

Members don't see this ad.
 
he can't look up how to count by 5's or hold the bladder for 14 hrs

what a reeetaaaarrd.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You could say that about many professions, including MD. Sure, you can look up stuff online, but it doesn't make you an expert. You become an expert by learning and understanding a subject. They don't pay you to look up information. They pay you to know it, because you don't always have time to look up information. Nobody can know everything, of course, but there is plenty a pharmacist should know by heart. The learning never stops, either. There are always new drugs, new studies, new guidelines, new laws. Not to mention things that are learned strictly through experience.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I'm still a new pharmacist but I was proud to catch someone taking Diovan and lisinopril at the same time just glancing at their med list. Every day, I see little things that I know are wrong and I'm able to quickly correct the issue. An uneducated person might see an e-rx for metoprolol succinate BID, and just continue with it, but I would know to call and make sure this was changed to either QD or tartrate (another example that happened to me). It's always good to double check with the MD on a digoxin dose of 250 mcg for an elderly person to make sure they aren't being overdosed. Also, knowing what might raise someone's lithium levels suddenly and how to identify signs of toxicity is always helpful. Knowing what to give a child with a fever (and what to avoid, had a patient that grabbed baby aspirin for their 4 year old) and how to treat a cough in a child under 6 will make parents very grateful. These things may or may not be alerted to you by a computer algorithm, but would you rather an uneducated person just accept what the computer says or an educated person that knows a computer can't catch everything?

There are many little things that a pharmacist can help with, including over-the-counter. Sure, you might be able to look up each drug and have a ready list available for the key points, and then another list for disease states and therapies. Then, you might want another list for compounding. By now you should have several large stacks of paper, or several kilobytes of word documents that need to be sorted through. Now, you will want to be able to key in very quickly on the relevant information you need to answer a patient's yeast infection question, supplement question, constipation question, any question that could possibly be asked. A patient doesn't want to wait for you to sort through your massive amount of information for what they believe to be a quick and easy question. Did I forget to mention you will want to update your knowledge on these things regularly?

So, by now, you've learned a basic amount of information on every relevant topic in pharmacy, and know how to quickly access information that you need more in depth knowledge on that just can't be memorized. Tack on some laws, regulations, insurance... congratulations, you just graduated pharmacy school.
 
Because power outages can occur without warning or when the internet is broken
 
If its so easy he should go to school for it and cash in.

I find theres an inverse relationship to amount of education completed to the amount of knowledge one thinks they have.
 
I would love to let him take my place for a day and see how he did, even my most experienced technician would crash and burn if put in my shoes for just one day. There is so much pharmaceutical information that I need to know in an instant. Tons of patient questions, doctor's offices calling, etc., there is no way I would have enough time if I had to look up every answer. And even then, looking up answers is only half the battle, how do you know it the information is good? or if it is applicable to your specific patient? Only education and experience allow proper answers in theses cases.
 
I have to say the op friend is an idiot at best. He would not survive one day in the pharmacy as a tech let alone a pharmacist in charge for the day. Even the senior tech /lead tech would get lost too.
A couple days ago my lead tech questioned a patient who brought in a script for duragesic saying that the patient just got oxycodone filled. For him the patient cant take the two together. That means he would probably be okay to fill duragesic for opiod naive patients. Big mistake.It takes knowledge and experience to perform the daily tasks of a pharmacist . What about the most random questions patients would ask?
I have seen so many instances every day where my best tech would be wrong and make bad call.
 
Top