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In August of 2013, I started my first real job as a pharmacist. I had just finished 2 years of residency and took a position as the Drug Information/Medication Safety Pharmacist at a tertiary, 441-bed hospital. During my first week, I had the opportunity to spend time with each of our pharmacists on various floors. While rounding with the Respiratory ICU Pharmacist, I was introduced to the team as the new “Drug Information Pharmacist.” One of the physicians surprised me by asking “What exactly does that mean? Doesn’t Drug Information Pharmacist sound redundant?” I agreed that the title was confusing and briefly explained a few of my responsibilities. I realized there wasn’t an ideal short and sweet answer because my job encompasses a variety of activities.

That day I reflected on how many other people in my life probably don’t know what I do on a day-to-day basis. I frequently need to clarify that pharmacists are involved in numerous activities both within and outside of the hospital setting. I’ve come across people who are amazed that there are oncology trained pharmacists that round with the teams and that their community pharmacist can provide the Zostavax® vaccine. At my institution we have pharmacists that practice in transplant, critical care, infectious diseases, emergency medicine, the operating room, neonatal care, medicine, cardiology, the infusion clinic, and many ambulatory care clinics. These pharmacists are all directly interacting with patients which makes it easier to document and justify their services. But what about someone who mostly sits in an office on lower level 2 of the hospital basement? It’s not as easy describing what I do…

So, here is a day in the life of the Drug Information/Medication Safety Pharmacist:

• As the designated medication safety pharmacist, I receive all the medication related adverse drug event reports. I determine which errors need to be further addressed by taking them to the pharmacy safety taskforce and/or the system-wide medication safety committee. Each event is documented so we can track/trend events and report them at the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee. Occasionally, these lead to root cause analyses (RCA) and the more proactive approach of failure modes and effects analyses (FMEA).
• Answering a variety of drug information inquiries. As patient care is becoming more complex and as the amount of medical literature expands, it is crucial to become efficient at retrieving information. Many complex clinical questions require in-depth research. Having someone available to assist with these questions allows the provider to spend more time on direct patient care. I document each question including my search strategy, references used, time spent on each question, and document my response. Examples of recent questions include: “Are there contraindications to receiving the HIB, meningococcal, and pneumococcal vaccines in a pregnant patient (15 weeks) who needs an emergent splenectomy?” or “I am working on determining the pump settings for IV acetaminophen. Is there any evidence to support infusing IV acetaminophen slower or faster than the recommended 15 minute infusion?” and “In light of the dexmedetomidine shortage, are there stability data for preparing a 4 mcg/mL concentration in normal saline using PVC bags?”
• Formulary management activities include working on monographs (currently working on Granix), developing order sets (recently completed for the new pulmonary hypertension medications), and reviewing nonformulary requests including recent request for administration of glucarpidase (only ~ $125,000 per dose!).
• Involvement with investigational drug protocols and providing pricing estimates and staff education prior to study initiation.
• Reviewing drug shortages and developing action plans/alternatives for critical shortages.
• Coordinating drug information resources for the department.
• Last, but not least, working with students and residents.