Hospital pharmacist

This type pharmacists work in a hospital pharmacy service, primarily within the public sector. They are responsible for ensuring the safe, appropriate and cost-effective use of medicines. Hospital pharmacists use their specialist knowledge to dispense drugs and advise patients about the medicines they have been prescribed.

work activities-

# participating in ward rounds, taking patient drug histories and contributing to the treatment decision-making process - this includes highlighting a drug's potential side effects, identifying harmful interactions with other drugs and assessing the suitability of treatments for patients with particular health conditions;
# liaising with physicians, nurses and other fellow health care professionals to ensure the delivery of safe, effective and economic drug treatment;
# counselling patients on the effects, dosage and route of administration of their drug treatments, particularly those who require complex drug therapy;
# monitoring every stage of medication therapy to improve all aspects of delivery and reporting patient side effects;
# communicating effectively with patients' relatives, community pharmacists, general practitioners (GPs), etc.;
# preparing and quality-checking sterile medications under special conditions (e.g. intravenous medications for those unable to take food, anti-cancer medications, eye drops, etc.);
# ensuring medicinal products are stored appropriately and securely to ensure freshness and potency;
# ensuring medication reaches the patient in the correct form and dose - this may include tablets, capsules, ointments, injections, inhalers and creams;
# being responsible for the accurate dispensing and timely distribution of drugs and medicines for inpatients or outpatients;