are pharmacists needed in the OR?

[pharm4lyfe]

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Also, do you know the job description of an ER pharmacists?

 

[rxlea]

Our hospital has an OR satellite. Not sure about an ER job description, though.

 

[pearljam5a1]

The OR is all about covering your bases before you start the procedure. You try and plan for every adverse event before it happens. While this isn't possible for every situation, a pharmacist is really unnecessary in the actual OR during a procedure. A Pyxis machine (or something similar) close by with the ability to call a pharmacist for any questions would be sufficient. A pharmacist would just be an extra body to bump into.

The ER pharmacists I've worked with have a pretty relaxed job. They wander around the ER serving primarily in an advisory role. They manage the pyxis machines and make sure they have the meds that the MDs want to have on-hand and serve as a liaison for the pharmacy department. They don't deal with stocking the pyxis (that's a tech's job) but they update the meds based upon what the situation calls for.

I'm unsure the exact role of a pharmacist during a trauma emergency in the ER but I do know that a pharmacist is required to respond to any cardiac emergency throughout the hospital. I would love to see this role expanded upon. If you are interested in the realm of emergency medicine I would suggest you take an EMT class and volunteer in your community.

 

[Passion4Sci]

The hospital I volunteer for has a clinical pharmacist on duty in the ED 24/7... I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that every hospital/group is going to be different.

 

[pharm4lyfe]

Thanks for the responses!

I think it does depend on the hospital because some Pharmacists I asked mentioned them having to perform activities like those pearljam mentioned while others have no need for ER pharmacists. They said everything is just done by the staff pharmacy and/or clinical pharmacists.

As for the OR, a friend volunteering at the hospital told me about them using a pharmacist in the OR during surgery to monitor the drug levels ( or something of that nature) of the patient. I was really confused because I had never considered a pharmacist as part of the OR team.

But I guess it depends on the location....

 

[confettiflyer]

The hospital I volunteer for has a clinical pharmacist on duty in the ED 24/7... I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that every hospital/group is going to be different.

it was a JC(?) mandate a while back but was pulled due to questions about how the heck to implement a pharmacist and integrate into the ED workflow. I'm not sure of the status as of today w/ that mandate, but I'm pretty sure it's still suspended as a hospital my friend interns at does not have a pharmacist in the ED.

 

[Thumper17]

I have worked in the OR as a tech (1 tech and 1 pharmacist on duty for the main OR hours), and in general we give out the NARCs for each procedure to start the day, make all of the irrigations, make sure all of the patients were dosed antibiotic properly, and then do whatever else is needed as it arises. It can get crazy at times, with calls for stat IV bags or irrigations or what have you coming from 3-4 OR rooms within minutes. I enjoy it though, the time passes fast and the M-F schedule off by 2:30 everyday can't be beat.

EDIT: Recently the hospital I work at decided to close the OR pharmacy and just add more accudose machines, but now they are once again BEGGING to have us back. A pharmacist is not really NEEDED in an OR setting, but if I were going under the knife I sure would want one there!

 

[pearljam5a1]

I have worked in the OR as a tech (1 tech and 1 pharmacist on duty for the main OR hours), and in general we give out the NARCs for each procedure to start the day, make all of the irrigations, make sure all of the patients were dosed antibiotic properly, and then do whatever else is needed as it arises. It can get crazy at times, with calls for stat IV bags or irrigations or what have you coming from 3-4 OR rooms within minutes. I enjoy it though, the time passes fast and the M-F schedule off by 2:30 everyday can't be beat.

EDIT: Recently the hospital I work at decided to close the OR pharmacy and just add more accudose machines, but now they are once again BEGGING to have us back. A pharmacist is not really NEEDED in an OR setting, but if I were going under the knife I sure would want one there!

I think it's a great idea to have a pharmacist and a satellite pharmacy on the same floor as the OR. I just don't think that you need a pharmacist in the actual operating rooms during a procedure.

 

[rxlynn]

Also, do you know the job description of an ER pharmacists?

I shadowed both during my rotations, and I would personally vastly prefer the ER side. To me, the OR position seemed pretty superfluous except for keeping track of the narcs. It seemed like all that pharmacist did was reconcile narcs, check the work of the technicians, do billing of the drugs used during the surgeries, and answer the occasionally drug information question. Plus, it's specialized enough that she readily admitted that after a few years she forgot a lot of knowledge about "regular" drugs.

On the other hand, the ER pharmacist seemed like more part of the healthcare team - answered lots of questions from the nurses and doctors, and really used a lot more drug knowledge doing med reconciliation, helping to transition patients who were being admitted, etc.