Did you know that October is National Pharmacy Month?? It’s true. Here are some other facts you may not know about pharmacists:
- Becoming a pharmacist requires 5 or 6 years of higher education, depending on the program.
- Pharmacists pass both state and federal boards
- There are only 173,000 licensed pharmacists in the US, compared to 661,000 physicians and surgeons and 2.6 million RNs.
I asked one of our pharmacists, Joe Scalese, RPh, to describe what it means to be a pharmacist today. He wrote:
“While a large portion of a pharmacist’s day is spent verifying prescription orders and recommending non-prescription therapies, the pharmacist’s role is expanding beyond the traditional functions of dispensing and distributing medications and health supplies. The pharmacist practicing today provides a much broader range of services than was offered even 10 years ago. Pharmacists’ centralized placement in the community and clinical expertise make them invaluable members of the health care team. They routinely assist other health care providers in selecting, prescribing, and dosing medications for patients. They monitor drug-drug interactions, drug allergies, improper dosing, correct utilization, and other medication related issues. Pharmacists routinely intervene on behalf of the patient with insurance matters as well.”
As you can see, we have some great pharmacists working here. And we want to invite you, the public to come take advantage of a great program we have going on this month. I would like to cordially invite you to attend one of our “Brown Bag Medication Checkups.”
All you have to do is gather all of your current medications and over-the-counter products into a bag, and bring them to our Brown Bag Checkup. A pharmacist will review the contents of the bag with you and look for any potential problems, such as incorrect dosage strength, outdated or discontinued medications. and more.
Did you know that taking an antibiotic can diminish the effectiveness of birth control? These pharmacists can look for any other interactions that could put you at risk.
There are three opportunities for you to bring in your meds:
October 13: 9:00 am-noon at the Home Care Pharmacy in the Sylvania Center, Suite 102
October 14: 9:00 am-noon at the Home Care Pharmacy in Smithsburg, MD
October 27: 9:00 am-noon at the Home Care Pharmacy in Williamsport, MD
Hope to see you there!
By Kayla Murphy
You’re right, the wrong medications can be harmful to your body and the minimum is better, especially to prevent complications. That is why it is important to have a good relationship with both your physician and pharmacist - they work as a team to find the right prescription regimen for you.
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