What does a Consultant Pharmacist do? Consultant pharmacists provide expert advice on pharmaceutical services, patient safety, and drug therapy management. They are medication management specialists who work in a variety of settings like ambulatory surgery centers (ASC), senior care facilities (e.g., nursing homes, assisted living facilities) and with individual patients.
Very few weeks go by where I don’t get asked what is a consultant pharmacist or what does a consultant pharmacist do? The answer, of course, is it depends. Consultant pharmacists work in a variety of settings and therefore what they do can vary greatly based on setting. Consultant pharmacists usually specialize in one of four areas: regulatory, clinical, quality, or technical. We have expertise in all four areas, which ensures our clients are covered in a holistic way.
What does a consultant pharmacist do for an ASC?
In an ASC the primary focus of a consultant pharmacist is to oversee pharmaceutical services to ensure safe medication management and regulatory compliance. Our focus revolves around patient safety and includes medication management, regulatory compliance, safe injection practices, benchmarking, new drug updates, guidance on compounded drugs as well as drug shortages, high-alert medications, look-alike-sound-alike medications (drugs with confused drug names), policy and procedure, as well as education. For a more detailed description of these services, read my previous post titled “Consultant pharmacist 101: How we help ambulatory surgery centers” or our ASC services page.
What does a consultant pharmacist do for a senior care facility (nursing homes, assisted living facilities)?
Consultant pharmacists serving senior care/long-term care facilities are responsible for oversight of pharmaceutical services, but in a much different way than an ASC. Just as the facility functions completely differently, the pharmacist responsibilities and required level of expertise are different. In senior care facilities we spend the majority of our time performing medication regimen reviews for each resident of the facility. Although there is so much more to the medication regimen review, it functions mainly to ensure each medication seems appropriate for that resident. The consultant pharmacist writes progress notes, ensures regulatory compliance, performs audits, and attends meetings, as necessary. For more details on what a consultant pharmacist does in a senior care facility please see my previous post titled “Consultant Pharmacist 101: How We Help Senior Care Facilities”. You can also visit our senior care facility services page to learn more about the services we provide.
What does a consultant pharmacist do for independently living patients?
Patients often feel like they are taking too many medications or wonder if their medications may be interacting, or not having the intended effect. At times they question if their condition could be managed without medications. A consultant pharmacist working with an independent patient should be a specialist who provides expert advice on the use of medications. Their primary focus is to ensure patients are using their medications safely and effectively to optimize therapy and prevent or correct medication related problems. If you are interested in our services, a good starting point is taking the self-assessment on our website. If you have questions or would like to start your journey to safe medication management, please contact us.
If you have additional questions about consultant pharmacists, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page or contact us and we’ll gladly answer your questions.
The Consultant Pharmacists at OctariusRx provide guidance on safe medication management, survey readiness and cost savings to ambulatory healthcare facilities/surgery centers, senior care facilities and pharmacies. We also help individual patients optimize their medications to improve their quality of life and save money. Contact us for assistance.
