What Can a Senior Care Pharmacist Do for You?
Senior care pharmacists are skilled health care professionals who have specialized training in the medication-related needs of seniors. This field of study is called geriatric pharmacotherapy.
Special Skills of Senior Care Pharmacists
In their roles as medication therapy management (MTM) experts, senior care pharmacists:
- hold their patients’ interest above all others;
- take responsibility for their patients’ medication-related needs;
- ensure that their patients’ medications are the most appropriate, the safest possible, the most effective, and are used correctly; and
- identify, resolve, and prevent medication-related problems.
Typically, senior care pharmacists accomplish this through a comprehensive consultation that provides a thorough, one-on-one review of all of your medications—prescription, over-the-counter, herbal, and nutritional.
But senior care pharmacists go well beyond reviewing medications. A senior care pharmacist has studied and acquired extensive knowledge about and experience in:
- Observing and properly assessing the health of seniors;
- Advocating healthy living practices and disease prevention for seniors;
- Recognizing and understanding diseases and conditions common in the senior population;
- Identifying medication-related problems that can cause, aggravate, or contribute to common geriatric problems;,
- Making it easier for seniors to take their medications properly by labeling, packaging and organizing prescription drugs better; and
- Understanding the role of the caregiver, the financial challenges that seniors can face, and the importance of choosing appropriate care.
Many senior care pharmacists learned these skills after years of working with nursing home residents. Some also have demonstrated their special knowledge and training by becoming board-certified geriatric pharmacists (www.ccgp.org).
Improving Your Quality of Life
In addition to possessing skills specifically tailored to seniors’ needs, senior care pharmacists have a different perspective from most physicians and pharmacists.
There’s a tendency for physicians to prescribe and pharmacists to dispense medications for a senior. But a senior care pharmacist would first look to see if the symptom might itself be a side effect of a current medication.
What does this mean for you?
It’s simple: Do your medications make you sleepy? Is your thinking foggy? Do you feel anxious, confused, or depressed? Do you feel light-headed? Do you sleep poorly at night?
All of these symptoms may be related to taking your medications. A senior care pharmacist will evaluate the overall picture of how your medications are affecting your quality of life. This can make a real difference for you and your family!
What Services a Senior Care Pharmacist Provides
A senior care pharmacist provides one-on-one consultation with you and your family, often in your home or an office, for a reasonable fee.
A senior care pharmacist can
- Provide professional, unhurried visits, and medication information that is understandable to you, your family, and caregivers
- Identify and reduce medicated-related problems, such as side effects and drug interactions
- Eliminate unnecessary medications
- Simplifying the system for taking medications
- Offer ideas for improving medication compliance and maintaining the best health
- Reduce medication costs
- Serve as your advocate with your physician to ensure the use of the most appropriate medications
- Promote wellness and disease prevention
- Identify untreated problems, such as incontinence and depression
In short, a senior care pharmacist can help you stay healthy through appropriate, safe, and effective medication use.
To find a Senior Care Pharmacist, click here.
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