Jump to comment:
- Page navigation anchor for Pharmacists are not physician assistantsPharmacists are not physician assistantsI read this editorial, which questions whether pharmacists can reduce GP workload.1 I find this question very peculiar, since I do not believe that is the main reason why a pharmacist is needed. I wonder whether this is another example on how the role of pharmacists is misunderstood.2I would like to help GPs to have a realistic expectation of having pharmacists in their practice. It is true that pharmacists can facilitate communication with the dispensary pharmacy, and help chronic medication management and medication reconciliation,3 all of which minimise interruptions in GP workflow. However, it does not always equate to reduced workload. Usually after a medication review, a responsible pharmacist would identify some drug-therapy problems, and share the monitoring plan with the team. Some of these problems may require doctors' inputs, which can arguably create more work.I am disappointed if GPs' main expectation is to have pharmacists reducing their workload. This sort of thinking would limit pharmacists’ input in patient care for the sake of saving time and reducing work. During our busy work days, I have seen some of my medical colleagues feeling annoyed by pharmacists' interruptions. I would like to gently suggest to these doctors to have a more patient-centred approach in their practice. Similar to many healthcare professionals, pharmacists' main d...Show MoreCompeting Interests: I have received salaries from working as a medical doctor and pharmacist, but neither of them pays me to write this letter.
- Page navigation anchor for Pharmacists working in general practicePharmacists working in general practiceProfessor Avery talks from personal experience of working with a clinical pharmacist and describes how pharmacists can ease burdens on GPs. However, he also states that the role of the pharmacist is unlikely to “reduce the workload in the way an additional GP or nurse would”. We would agree wholeheartedly with this and point to the fact that the pharmacist brings unique medication-related skills to the practice. Elsewhere in the editorial, reference is made to the increasing complexity of care creating difficulties for GPs. The evidence for the prevalence of prescribing errors in general practice,1 the impact of adverse effects of medication2 and problems with compliance3 are well documented. These are the areas where the role of the pharmacist is likely to have biggest impact.Experience on the national NHS England phase 1 programme has demonstrated that the role of the clinical pharmacist in general practice is diverse and tailored to the needs of an individual practice. This makes the role difficult to define, as discussed elsewhere in the same issue,4 and difficult to measure. There is anecdotal evidence from the NHS England programme and elsewhere5,6,7 which demonstrates that pharmacists can save GP time and reduce workload. Presumably this is also the experience of the GP practices around the country already employing pharmacists outside of the NHS England funding prog...Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.
- Page navigation anchor for Pharmacists working in general practicePharmacists working in general practiceThis editorial and the associated articles in the September issues offered little on the role of pharmacy technicians as opposed to prescribing pharmacists.One fundamental point of interest was where the author mentioned fully staffed surgeries. More importantly would be are GP partners and consortiums willing to invest income when they have an obvious shortfall in clinical service provision and if not should NHSE or the CCC act?Once answered could a pharmacist or a non prescribing pharmacy technician help? - the answer in my experience is yes.In my view, it is not face to face consulting where that would be but in managing discharge medication reconciliation, medication reviews with monitoring needs, and the interface between the practice, the pharmacist and the rest of the medicines community. These tasks may take an hour a day per doctor in some practices with patients on multiple medication. Their clinical care is best sorted by a 'named ''doctor' due to their complex co-morbiditiesCompeting Interests: None declared.