Expanding roles

IF you look at the role of pharmacists over the past few decades, there has been a change in the landscape. The focus of pharmacists 30, 40 years ago is more on dispensing and preparing medicine for patients which is product centred.
As the healthcare system develops and becomes more advanced, there is an increasing role of pharmacists in patient care. There has been a shift in the role from product centred to patient centred.
In hospitals, pharmacists start to carry more clinical related services or direct patient care services. For instance, there are clinical pharmacists who work in the ward together with doctors and nurses to help manage the patient.
“Although this is not common practice in Malaysia, it is common in Western countries. The role of pharmacists is changing all the time and in the future, I see a bigger role for them in patient care. If you look at the trend in the profession around the world, you will see an increase role of pharmacists in different levels of patient care,” said Monash University Malaysia acting head of the School of Pharmacy, Associate Prof Dr Ong Chin Eng.
The school which started in 2009 saw its first cohort of graduates in 2013 and up to this year, they have had four cohorts of graduates. Two of the cohorts are undergoing their Provisionally Registered Pharmacists training with the government which is a one-year pupillage and one-year compulsory service.
“The other half are everywhere, but many prefer to stay with government hospitals because it is a good place to start a career as there is a good mix of cases and they get to learn the most. Others who are not keen on hospitals are with private sectors, pharmacies and in the pharmaceutical industry,” Ong said.
In preparing graduates for the workplace, Monash has made good use of its Virtual Online Resources in training. Through this tool, students are exposed to simulated workplaces such as a community pharmacy setting or a manufacturing plant. Students are immersed in these virtual environments where they are trained to handle simulated patients or pharmaceutical products.
Students are also involved in an intensive placement programme where they undergo 12 weeks of work placement in four different settings for three weeks each. They are placed in government hospitals, private hospitals, community pharmacies and public health clinics.
During this training, students get to observe what pharmacists do and they also need to be involved in some of the activities. For instance, in a hospital, they go into the ward with the hospital pharmacists and they need t o present the case such as how drugs are used in this case and discuss any issues related to drug use.
“Pharmacists are medicine specialists or drug experts and what makes it an attractive career is its job scope. There are many different jobs pharmacists can be involved in as well as different areas and settings they can go into such as community, hospital and industry.
“Those who are inclined to do research can work in government research centres or in universities, while those who like people interaction can work at hospitals and community clinics.
“Choices are wide for graduates. Pharmacists are very much involved in R&D to help discover medicine. They are also involved in the manufacturing of drugs and medicines, quality control, quality assurance and marketing. Pharmacists can also be involved in the legal aspects of the pharmaceutical industry. For instance, getting the products registered,” Ong said.
The government has set a pharmacistto-population ratio of one to 2,000 (the standard suggested by the World Health Organisation for a developed country) and the plan is to achieve that target in the year 2020, but the country has already achieved it this year. Ong foresees expanded roles for pharmacists and job prospects will be good for the next five to 10 years.