The Pharmacist’s Role in Surgery: The Indispensable Asset
https://clinmedjournals.org/article...anesthetics-and-anesthesiology-ijaa-5-067.pdf
The articles above were the reason I posted this thread. I read both of them and it got me thinking about other options within pharmacy that one could transition to. I also tutored and guided two CRNAs through my job and I know of an anesthesiologist I met who had issues of their own. I did not expect so many comments at once. I was seeking sincere responses; it seems I have a few responses: one judgmental and appropriately termed sardonic, which I ignored, other responses that show interest, curiosity, and a real-life outlook (as blunt as it was delivered) which I will accept.
Since pharmacists can prevent medication errors in the outpatient, inpatient, and community/retail setting, one pharmacist does so in the OR. This pharmacist not have a residency either yet still has an indispensable role in designing anesthesia drug trays as well as consulting with CRNAs, anesthesiologists, and the OR staff so that the medication tray meets their needs. This goes back to clinical positions that require residency or not, but that is a subject for another day.
I know hospitals deal with surgeries frequently and nurses sometimes forget what medications to use and for how long in a community hospital due to poor labeling or other reasons. This is obviously a role that clinical pharmacists already do, but an issue nurses complain about all of the time.
In case you all forgot, I worked at a trauma hospital as a pharmacy technician for 2 years where we needed these medications stocked and ready every morning by 7:30 AM. Nurses on my Adult Medicine rotation had the same problem with medications as the colors of the containers sometimes "drawed their eye" to medications that were unsafe: sometimes due to unclear labeling or the way the manufacturer designed the package or vial. In other words, the trays are not "user friendly."
Pharmacists usually oversee the administration of preoperative antibiotics through Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) guidelines, so I thought of anesthesia sounded like a reasonable avenue and is a topic ASHP rarely discusses. Two pharmacists from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), one of the pharmacy schools I applied to, worked in the OR and discussed pharmacy's role in anesthesia. One wrote the article above and the other has a presentation in this link.
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.scshp.com/resource/resmgr/SCSHP_2015_AM/Matics.pdf
I posted the thread because I never heard of an anesthesia pharmacist either. If this non-profit community is not the place to direct my question, where do you advise I discuss roles that ASHP has little knowledge of?
Link to ASHP is as follows:
Title: ASHP Guidelines on Surgery and Anesthesiology Pharmaceutical Services
https://www.ashp.org/-/media/assets...hash=6070BB566054E5D3F5BE45354D84D1E1F225059A
I already found an introductory guide to get me started reading: Miller's Guide to Anesthesia. My pharmacy school also only provided one lecture on non-depolarizing and depolarizing muscular blocking agents (directing the lecture towards the typical endotracheal intubation in the ER), so I was just curious.
Data-driven healthcare is the real game-changer for our healthcare system anyways, not "Provider Status." I posted this just to get a discussion going and see if our medical model of education is still viable. Education in pharmacy is more like a Dr. Seuss story anyways: "Oh the Places You'll Go."
