Clinical Pharmacy 151: IPPE in Institutional Setting
2018-09067 Sir Francis Capule
In Institutional pharmacy, customers or patients are limited to employees of the
company. With this, pharmacists can easily document and track patient’s medication records and goes through with it when needed. They have a greater control of over prescribing and monitoring patients. Patient care in institutions is more intensive with greater use of drugs. Pharmacists in institutions also work with a health care team of physicians, nurses or specialists. The knowledge and clinical skills that pharmacists have make them an authoritative source of drug information for physicians, nurses and patients. Also, institutional pharmacists together with others perform patient assessment for medication related factors before dispensing drugs. In fact, they can even refer first an employee to a physician before dispensing non-prescription drugs. Every symptom is given importance in order to give the appropriate medication (form and dosage) at the right time for the right patient. They are really working with their highest level of clinical skills and knowledge to provide direct patient care. Moreover, they evaluate medication orders as well as oversee the systems that control drug distribution which are designed to ensure each patient’s safety. Interacting with them (other health care providers), pharmacists can feel more valued as part of the primary care teams. However, since the patients are the same, job can be repetitive. The opportunities and work are also different depending on the size and type of institutions. The Supreme Court which is a public setting has a smaller pharmacy compared to the private one, San Miguel Corporation. The SMG has a wide range of drugs given they are partnered with Med Express, a hospital outpatient pharmacy and delivery service drugstore. When they don’t have the medication needed by the patient at the moment, they would just contact Med Express and have it delivered within the day. On the other hand, pharmacy in Supreme Court has drugs constrained to commonly needed by their employees and thus, limited in numbers. In terms of documentation, they have these bluebooks where they kept all the records of the employee’s medication. It would be helpful if they have/shift to digitalize one just like in SMC. The convenience of health care in private institution is better unlike in public institution. This implies how the government don’t prioritize the health care necessities of its people at all. If only it allotted more fund on health sector, probably the employees working in a public setting would experience the same benefits as employees in private setting.