A text at 5:00 AM wakes me up. A friend of mine, a pharmacist at a major hospital going through a bout of anxiety and exhaustion. We talk the next morning and she tells me of he past few days, what she is going through and what she has seen. She tells me of the suffering of COVID-19 patients, of the health disparities and of the death toll. I hang up and take a look at the national news, and what meets my eyes are protests in Lansing. They shouldn’t do that, I think to myself, even if they think the state has not responded strongly enough to the crisis or if they feel the lack of support to our hospitals and healthcare professional. But then as I read, I realize its about their inability to buy gardening supplies and traveling to their second home up north. I am not going to judge these people and they have the right to their views. I disagree with other stipulations that the Governor or President put in place. The angle I am taking here is what I like to call “lack
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Provider Status
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I think as pharmacy students and future pharmacists, this is a question that has crossed all of our minds at some point: Will pharmacist be able to prescribe? Currently, only clinical pharmacists can prescribe through the use of a collaboration agreement can prescribe prescription medications. This is something that has intrigued me and is part of why I want to become a clinical pharmacist. However, what if all pharmacist had the power to prescribe? How would this change the landscape of healthcare? How much more training would pharmacists require and how much would pharmacy school change as a result? These are all questions I have thought to myself when I think about this topic. Currently, it is without a doubt that pharmacist are the most accessible healthcare professionals in America. It was found that, on average, patients go to their community pharmacy about 35 times per year but only see their primary care physician 4 times. This is a huge difference and part of this is beca
For Drug Discovery Wiki: Advil Dual Action
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On February 28 of this year, the FDA approved Advil Dual Action (ibuprofen and acetaminophen) as an over the counter (OTC) medication. There is a fixed dose combination of ibuprofen, which is an NSAID and the active ingredient in Advil. The other portion is acetaminophen, which is the active ingredient in Tylenol. It will be used for the relief of pain. The company that made this medication was GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare LP. It is the first FDA-approved OTC combination of acetaminophen and ibuprofen. The submission for the drug has data from seven clinical trials with three focusing on efficacy and safety in pain relief. Data shows an indication with pain relief and the combination has higher efficacy than ibuprofen or acetaminophen alone. I found this specific drug to be very interesting because I am so used to seeing patients use either ibuprofen or acetaminophen due to their properties. I have heard cases of patients taking both, which have many beneficial effects. It is
BioRxiv + the general public = a problem
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With the current stay-at-home order and everyone on the internet scrolling social media for new coronavirus updates, it's very easy to come across conspiracy theories on twitter about coronavirus. At first look, these theories appear to be real because they (for once) have "scientific articles" cited. Further clicking on the articles shows that the article comes from a website, such as bioRxiv or medRxiv. Both of these websites are places for scientists to preliminary share their work with other scientists before being accepted to and published in a peer-reviewed journal. Since December, the site reports a "100-fold" surge of views and downloads. As pharmacy students, we know the risk of trusting articles that have not been peer-reviewed. We have had classes both in pharmacy school and in undergrad warn us that these articles should be vetted and not be taken as fact until published in a journal. To the general public, many of whom are scientific journal novi
Impact of COVID-19 on Health Systems
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As we all know COVID-19 has taken a toll on all of our lives by creating restrictions and social distancing. We must stay six feet away from each other and it is crazy to know that there are patients in beds crowded in hallways in hospitals. This is putting healthcare professionals at risk, including nurses, pharmacists, and physicians. Another big issue was the shortage of masks maximizing the risk of exposure to our essential health care professionals. I recall reading the other day that hundreds of workers at a health system in the metro-Detroit area testing positive for the corona virus. It makes me wonder if is there is better plan that can be implemented to minimize risk of exposure. Being that there is such an increasing demand to treat these patients, many physicians and nurses have been pulled from their areas of speciality. For example, one of my cousins is an ophthalmologist, while the other is an orthopedic surgeon. Both are working alongside the COVID-19 patients and hav
The ethics with Covid
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Although this may be a touchy topic, I felt the need to bring it to life since I have had many people surrounding me experience it. Let me paint you a picture. Your grandfather is in a retirement home where currently he is sick but stable. The encapsulating COVID19 strikes and retirement homes have no longer allowed visitors due to the risk. However, you so happen to work at this same retirement home so you get to see him every day that you are there. You get to peek into his room on your breaks and play games and eat lunch together. Time passes slowly, what feels like ages. Until suddenly, gramps falls extremely sick during this time with no one but you by his side. You think to yourself, is this a blessing that I am even able to be here? Or a curse that not even his own daughter could be here to comfort him and get a last hug goodbye. This is not my story, but it is that of a close friend. I think that this virus has struck people in vicious ways, and some more than others. I thin
Can today's Pharmacist be the solution to primary care physician shortages?
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As I go further along in my pharmacy curriculum, I can't help but wonder why pharmacists are not utilized more or given more power in their practices. Slowly but surely, it is clear the value and impact of pharmacists are showing. However, I still think we can do more. We are more than what the world and even our healthcare perceives of us. And I think COVID-19 could have been the platform pharmacists needed to showcase their qualities to its maximal effect. With few exceptions, prestigious colleges with renown pharmacy programs prepare prospective students with exceptional clinical knowledge. With the current issue of job market saturation, there needs to be a way to sell our rigorous academic credentials as reason to better utilize pharmacist beyond dispensing, and verifying patient medications. Currently, the clinical expectation of today's pharmacist consist of residency programs that cover a wide range of various sub-department of medicine. The second year of residenc