Rounding with Pharmacist

[sacrament]

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I'm a 4th year med student who, I will freely admit, never really saw the appeal in pharm. Last week one of the university inpatient pharmacists (apparently on a spur-of-the-moment lark) rounded with our internal medicine team, however, and it was a startling experience; I would estimate that because we had an experienced pharmacist standing right there with us, at least half of the patients on the service had a relatively significant change to their medications, with a couple of them having big time changes that had an enormous impact on the course of their admission. "You're giving X with Y? You can't give X with Y! No wonder X isn't working!" Consequently I can't help but wonder why this doesn't occur more often. I mean, sure, we call the inpatient pharmacy from time to time with questions, but having the guy standing there was huge, both from a direct patient care standpoint and from a resident/student educational standpoint. Do you folks know of any institutions where pharmacists are a standard part of a rounding team? Just curious.

 

[trishias]

Our pharmacists go on rounds in the MICU, Neonatal ICU, the Heme/Onc floors and a couple more units. I dont work in that pavillon but I know the pharmacists are visible on rounds.

 

[Caverject]

Most good to great hospitals, especially teaching hospitals have pharmacists that round. I really appreciate that you took the time to write this as most MD students that post in pharmacy forum try to start a flame war with us. It's not often that we get compliments. Thank you for taking the time to write one.

 

[BMBiology]

The USC Medical School has been very receptive of pharmacists rounding with the medical team. Even pharmacy students round with the medical team.

I think as medications become more complicated, the demand for pharmacists will increase in the inpatient setting. I have great respect for the medical profession but the role of a well trained pharmacist will not only add value to the medical team, but improve patient care and save money as well.

 

[bananaface]

I worked at the county hospital in Tacoma, WA and we had pharmacists on rounds in most areas. I think the only people who didn't get them were people on short stay.

 

[no-see-um]

I do think that medicine in hospitals ought to include the pharmacists a little more. The ones I've been to in NYC have physician assistants and nurses dealing with the medicines. I think that may be because drug therapy in hospitals is an enormous task, but there should be efforts to make it more effective. There's just not enough pharmacists to fill the need...

 

[bananaface]

Hospitals send pharmacists on rounds because we ultimately save their health system money and improve patient care. Improved care = shorter stays, fewer lawsuits, more efficient use of drug therapy funds, and so forth.

 

[Kawen]

pharmacists play such a big role at MUSC- they round with virtually all teams of attendings and residents. Most of these pharmacists have students of their own who also go on the rounds (first years thru fourth years- though the first years only go once a week [4 hrs] for a month, the second years once a week [4 hrs] for 8 weeks, and fourth years are there all hours that their preceptor pharmacist is on duty). some of the teams on rounds get pretty big with med students, med residents, med attendings, pharmacists, pharmacy residents, and pharmacy students (i have seen crowds of 10-12 before)!

 

[VCU07]

I'm a 4th year med student who, I will freely admit, never really saw the appeal in pharm. Last week one of the university inpatient pharmacists (apparently on a spur-of-the-moment lark) rounded with our internal medicine team, however, and it was a startling experience; I would estimate that because we had an experienced pharmacist standing right there with us, at least half of the patients on the service had a relatively significant change to their medications, with a couple of them having big time changes that had an enormous impact on the course of their admission. "You're giving X with Y? You can't give X with Y! No wonder X isn't working!" Consequently I can't help but wonder why this doesn't occur more often. I mean, sure, we call the inpatient pharmacy from time to time with questions, but having the guy standing there was huge, both from a direct patient care standpoint and from a resident/student educational standpoint. Do you folks know of any institutions where pharmacists are a standard part of a rounding team? Just curious.

I agree with one of the previous posters...it is not often that we get compliments from physicians or soon to be physicians. Clinical pharmacists and students do round with the team at MCV. We have pharmacists who have specialized in everything from primary care to vetrinary therapy. The pharmacy cirriculum has changed so much over the past decades to now mandate the PharmD. Hopefully, this changes the views of more physicans and other health care professionals.

 

[Glycerin]

At the pediatric hospital where I work, the clinical pharmacists and pharmacy resident round with physicians. I've been told that our pharmacy interns (current pharmacy students) have the opportunity to do this as well, in order to gain exposure to this type of environment.

 

[TotalKayOs]

with my 6th year rotation now i am seeing that pharmacist round with most of the teams at beth israel. so far i've been in the micu and heme/onc floors and know other students that have been in renal and ID. at children hospital around the corner pharmacist round with the team there too.