Clinical Pharmacy as One of the Pharmacies Branches for Sufficient Patient Care - Essay Example

Pharmacy in UK Clinical pharmacy is one of the pharmacy branches that entail provision of sufficient patient care,through proper medication to enhance health and disease prevention among others. Initially, clinical pharmacists could only be found in hospitals and clinics, however, as time advanced, there was increased need for increased patient care and the clinical pharmacists can be found in any health care facility (Cristian, 2013). There are different forums or boards to being together pharmacists in the country. United Kingdom clinical pharmacy Association (UKCPA) was initiated in 1981 to encourage and support pharmacists among other health related professionals. UKCPA motivates experts in the medical sectors to benefit the patients or the public through standard health care, workshops and encouraging innovations in health care sector among others (John, 2013). This discourse is about Luton and Dunstable University Hospital’s pharmacy and its comparison with that of Saudi Arabia hospital. Luton and Dunstable University Hospital is situated next to M1 motorway, just between the Luton and Dunstable towns. The hospital can be accessed through the Lewsey road or Dunstable road. The hospital can also be accessed through various bus routes and these are the Arriva and Centre bus routes. Luton is one of the United Kingdom’s largest towns. It neighbors Dunstable and Houghton Regis and it is about 50km in the northern part of London. According to the United Kingdom 2011 census, Luton had a population of about 203,200. This was a 10.2 increase from the 2001 census. Out of the 203,200, 46,756 were below the age of 16, 145,208 were aged between 16 and 74, while about 11,23o were aged 75 and above. The local inhabitants are mainly the Lutonians; however, the presence of some immigrants cannot be assumed. The immigration started in the early 20th century when the Irish and Scottish arrived. The groups were later followed by Afro-Caribbean and Asians. Recently, several immigrants from Eastern Europe found home in Luton and this is enough evidence that the town is comprised of various ethnicities. To go with statistics, Pakistani makes 14.4%, Indian makes 5.2% while Bangladeshi makes 6.7% of the total Luton population (Office for National Statistics, 2012). However, the whites still remain the majority in the town. According to 2011 UK census, Luton ethnicity comprised of 54.6% whites, 4.1% mixed, 30% Asian or Asian British, 9.8% black or Black British while the rest make 1.5%. There are various religious groups and these include Christian (47.4%), Muslim (24.6%), and Hindu (3.3%) while the rest include Sikh, Jewish and Buddhist (office for national statistics, 2011). Initially, Luton economy focused on various industries including Motor industry, engineering as well as Millinery among others. However, the town currently gains its revenue from airport industry under the courtesy of Easy Jet, Monarch Airlines and Thompson UK among others. Medical industry is also doing well in the town with AstraZeneca and Whitbread being some of the main companies in town. Clinical pharmacists have concrete understanding in biomedical, pharmaceutical, clinical sciences and social behavior among others. Majority of clinical pharmacists have doctorate and degree in Pharmacy (Pharm. D.) among other related fields. Furthermore, majority of certified pharmacists have successfully completed post-graduate programs and training and these include general and specialty pharmacy residency (Strang, 2013). Generally, Luton and Dunstable University hospital offers medicine dispensation, advises, prescriptions and even clinic screening to its patients. The institutions have different kinds of pharmacies to ensure patients’ satisfaction. There are the clinical pharmacists, hospital pharmacists and consultant pharmacists among others. They both ensure drug monitoring, patient safety and this entails detailed reporting on the patient safety as far as drug consumption is concerned. The hospital also has medicine information centers where patients can call or use internet services to seek helpful information on medicine. This means that the hospital have internet medicine although the hospital digital platform is not at par to meet the public needs (U.S Food and Drug Administration, 2013). Pharmacists at L&D university hospital are involved in the ward level and this is appreciated as they take their own initiative to interact with the admitted patients for effective monitor monitoring and advice. However, there are some limitations in the hospital’s pharmacy, for instance, according to the care quality commission of national standards, the professionals do not meet some standards and this is demonstrated in the Care Quality Commission (CQC) profile. The above factors tend to pose some limitations to pharmacists in Luton in general. Majority of the Lutonians are people below the age of 16 and they do not qualify to be adults. Medical legislation require that only adults can be prescribed drugs by qualified and approved pharmacists while children should be accompanied by parents, guardians or any responsible adults. Children below the age of 16 have stronger immune body system and this means they fall sick less often compared to the adults and the elderly who are the minority in the region. This translates to low business due to low demand for community pharmacists in Luton. The second limitation is associated to religion and ethnicity. For instance, majority of Christians and Muslims believe in spiritual intervention other than the conventional medicine dispensed in the pharmacies. Furthermore, the Indians believe in herbal, fruits and vegetable medicine. These also translate to low demand for conventional medicine (Silva, 2013). Some of the pharmacy services provided in the hospital include drug monitoring and here entails monitoring how the patients’ conditions advance with the prescribed drugs and provide appropriate advice. However, drug dispensation is the main service in the department and this entails providing the correct drugs as prescribed by doctors or even approved medical officers. The pharmacists could also ensure medical reconciliation and this entails monitoring the previous history of drug prescription and this should be in harmony with new or current prescription, they report any technicality to the relevant doctors. There is no big difference in the pharmacy services between UK and Saudi Arabia; however, Saudi Arabia pharmacists are not majorly concerned with medicine monitoring but dispensation. Hospital pharmacies are the drug stores or components within hospitals. Luton and Dunstable university hospital have well managed hospital pharmacies where drugs are dispensed and patients advised on matters related to efficient or optimized drugs utilization. Furthermore, Hospital pharmacy deals with patient compliance matters, medication safety both at the hospital and at home. Hospital pharmacists require additional training from pharmacy practice residency and a times practicing experience from certain environments like the tropical among others. Such extra training qualifies any pharmacist to clinical pharmacist and they tend to specialize in various disciplines or fields of pharmacy. For instance, there are those who specialize in hematology or oncology, infectious ailments, HIV/AIDs, emergency Medicare, pain management, pediatrics, psychiatry and herbal medicine among others. Luton and Dunstable University hospitals have consultant pharmacies that majorly focus on medical cognitive issues other than the traditional dispensing of drugs. They are common in nursing homes managed by the two university hospitals. Consultant pharmacies operate as independent business owners through legal contracts between them and the institutions associated. However, some consultant pharmacies in the United Kingdom work in some recognized pharmacy management companies and this is assurance that they have they have the required knowledge and experience in their fields of practice (GPhC., 2013). Pharmacy in Saudi Arabia is similar to that of UK in several ways. Both undergo similar education system, however, the professional is less competitive in the Saudi Arabia than in the United Kingdom, meaning one does not have to have post graduate training to secure employment (Oxford Business Group ,2008). In both countries, the professional is governed by various registered bodies or boards according to the medical legal framework of the two nations (CQC, 2013). Both hospitals ensure medical ethics and legal compliance in all departments including the pharmacy department. However, the quality of pharmacy in Saudi Arabia is dismal compared to that in UK and this attributed by good medical schools in the UK and its surrounding. Furthermore, the country conducts effective campaigns to encourage more students take pharmacy among other related medical courses (Francis, 2013). United Kingdom has a more stable economy to procure complex but affective pharmacy equipment, unlike the Saudi Arabia Hospitals. To conclude, the quality of pharmacies United Kingdom’s hospitals is in accordance with various stipulated standards and this could be due to the high profile patients, stable economy, good medical schools and curricula among others. This discourse focused on Lotus and Dunstable University Hospital pharmacy and it can be concluded that the hospital provides sufficient pharmacy services which include medical take away services, drug monitoring, patient safety, medical information centre which embrace the customer care platform among others (Delgado, 2013). It is evident that the Saudi Arabia hospital needs to do some improvements in the clinical pharmacy departments. There is need to train the pharmacists on the latest technology and matters related to the profession. Saudi Arabia should also put a side good amount of resources to procure latest pharmaceutical equipment among other requirements. Luton and Dunstable University Hospital need to comply with Care Quality Commission national standards to ensure effective services to the patients. Furthermore, the hospital should upgrade its digital platform to enable the public or patients seek relevant pharmaceutical information from the hospital’s website or social pages among other digital platform. Bibliography CQC. (2013). CQC Annual Report 2012/2013. London: CQC press. Cristian, A. (2013). Patient Safety in Rehabilitation Medicine, An Issue of Physical Medicine . New York: Elsevier Health Sciences. . Delgado, V. S. (2013). A Medication Reconciliation Educational Intervention To Improve Medication Adherence In A Medically Underserved Population. San Marcos: California State University. Francis, R. (2013). Poor NHS care could lead to prosecution. nhe . GPhC. (2013). GPhC survey provides first real picture of quality of pre-registration pharmacist training . London: GPhC press. Hall, J. (2013). Pharmacy Practice. 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Population Estimates for England and Wales, Mid 2011 (Census Based). Office for National Statistics. 25 September 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2012. Luton 203,600. Read More