What Does A Pharmacist Do Every Day?

Pharmacists who work in inpatient hospital and infusion pharmacies have many responsibilities. They balance patient safety with pharmacy knowledge and with the needs of their customers (nurses, physicians, pharmacy staff, etc). 

Whether you’re considering a career in pharmacy, or just genuinely curious about what pharmacists do on a day-to-day basis, we have some answers! We asked some of our Indispensable Health pharmacists to talk about what they spend most of their time doing. Here’s what they had to say:

Pharmacist nearing retirement, inpatient.

“As a pharmacist, a majority of my time is spent between fielding questions from the medical team (providers and nurses), and calling them for order clarifications, medication administration, drug complications, etc.”

Mid-career pharmacist, inpatient. 

“As a pharmacist, I spend most of my time troubleshooting. Trying to figure out what either happened or anticipate what could possibly happen and how to prevent it from happening. We have to figure out all solutions related to all medications. If the nurse gave the wrong medication, we have to figure out how she/he was able to obtain the incorrect medication. If the wrong medication was in the Pyxis, how and when did that happen.”

Early career pharmacist, inpatient  

“I spend most of the time providing clinical services to other health care providers and patients. Most of the time, I am working on review patient charts and find what interventions we can do to maximum efficacy of the patients' treatment plan to improve patient health conditions and reduce the time of hospital stay. The protocols especially focus on pharmacists monitoring antimicrobial and anticoagulant therapies.”

Early career pharmacist working in oncology infusion. 

“I spend my time collaborating with physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses to ensure safe and appropriate dosing of chemotherapy and supplemental therapies. I provide drug and dosing recommendations based on patient lab parameters. I review medication orders as well as do technical checks on medications compounded by pharmacy technicians. When needed I also compound both chemotherapy and non-hazardous medications. I also provide education to patients newly starting chemotherapy.”

The day-to-day responsibilities of a pharmacist are largely dependent on the type of pharmacy they work in. With that being said, something that every pharmacist does on a daily basis is to ensure the safety of their patients.

What do you do on a daily basis as a pharmacist or any pharmacy professional? We would love to know in the comments below!