New niche for pharmacists?

[konkan]

I recently talked to my adviser and he said that he knows private physician groups which are hiring pharmacists directly to work for them. Basically pharmacists do the same stuff they do in hospitals (drug information, pharmacotherapy monitoring, safety etc). Does it have potential to become more popular?

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[ZpackSux]

No..

But Physician groups hire pharmacists to run Infusion Suites... Mon through Fri... no weekends, no evenings etc.. but benefits usually suck working for small companies.

 

[JMH5145]

We have a couple of these set-ups around here. In Virginia, these arrangments are called collaborative agreements. They are gaining popularity, especially in the more rural areas of VA. A couple of our professors work in a doctors office. They have specialties, such as anticoagulation, diabetes management, etc. They have appointments with patients, order and monitor labs, and tell the doctors to change a person's dosage or drug therapy. Pretty much the only thing that the pharmacist can't do is diagnose the disease state. They can manage it, just not diagnose it.

I think I'm going on an EPPE to one of these sights this spring. Hopefully, I will learn more about how the process works then.
Hope this helps!

 

[ButlerPharm.D.]

A lot of our professors at Butler are in collaborative practice agreements with physicians at some of the larger hospitals in Indianapolis. Honestly, I think it's a pretty cool arrangement and I'm actually looking into it post graduation but I believe that those types of positions require residencies.

 

[MountainPharmD]

Its a great idea but likely to expesive for most physician groups to consider. There is a large (200+ docs) physician group here in my town. They have their own coagulation clinics, diabetes clinics as well as lipid clinics. Its all run by nurses and dieticians.

 

[gsinccom]

good post ladies and gents!

 

[sdn1977]

The only physician group in my area who employs a pharmacist is a cardiovascular electrophysiology group who also participate in a significant number of drug studies.

They employ a pharmacist to deal with the practical aspects of dispensing the drug, maintaining double-blindedness (sp?), regulatory paperwork, patient education & interaction & all the FDA & institutional review requirements.

Beyond that, I know of no physician groups who employ pharmacists. However...I do know of 3 large clinics - anywhere from 100-300 physicians. These are corporations who employ pharmacists to do a variety of "clinical" activities - anticoag, diabetes educations, etc.....it would be boring for me, but there is something for everyone!

 

[SomeGuy]

This is starting to happen around where I live (Increased pharmacist involvement in primary care).

Here's a little bit of information:
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&l...pactteam.info+"family+health+team"+pharmacist
http://www.google.ca/search?q="fami...ient=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

 

[onepharmer]

I know of at least a few private practice physician groups that have pharmacists (check out Physicians Inc. in Ohio, Coastal Medical in Rhode Island). Also, look at bios of pharmacists on the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists website. If something like this interests you, you could also ask your ambulatory care faculty for contacts...good luck

 

[smchurch]

This is a great opportunity for us! It may be new now but the more Pharm D`s get involved in the more responsibilities/opportunities we will have in the medical community. I say push our way in to new areas and make a new niche. It increases our value and over time maybe out income!