Portfolio Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Portfolio - Coursework Example I went to two wards. The first ward was the Medicin Ward, meant for elderly patients, and the second one was the surgery ward. I got to see a few patients and my particular interest was to know the kind of attention they were given by the clinical pharmacist. For instance, there was a 72-year old patient who was suffering from diabetes mellitus type one, hypercholesteremia and hypertension. In my presence, he narrated to the pharmacist what he felt. He only talked of shortness of breath. The lesson I learnt in most of the cases is that as a clinical pharmacist, one needs to know what a patient feels by asking them. He/she shouldn’t stop at that, but go ahead to carry out examinations to discover other things that the patient may be unknowingly suffering from. On the basis of both what the patient says and the results of the medical examination, a pharmacist establishes if there is any need to change medication or not to. My visit to the hospital pharmacy taught me yet another lesson; that there are certain kinds of patients, like alcoholics, that require counseling more than other forms of medical attention such as drug prescription. This is a way of helping them to get around the drinking habit. In the case of an alcoholic, it may also be necessary for a pharmacist to change drugs because the patient’s problem may have got more complicated than what it was before. Any such change of medicinal prescription must be based on laboratory examination results in all cases. This means that a clinical pharmacist must work very closely with a laboratory technician, because he depends on his results to be able to prescribe drugs for the patients. Constantly checking with results helps to track the patient’s medical history, and on the basis of whether they are doing any better or not, medicine can be changed or retained. It ensures that patients receive the best medical attention and eliminating chances of prescription