Healthcare Professional Interview, Essay Example

Interview Summary

I interviewed a primary care physician assistant for this assignment. Her primary role is to see patients, conduct assessments as necessary, develop diagnoses, and formulate a treatment plan. Each of these activities is under the supervision of a physician; however, the physician assistant makes many of her own independent decisions. This role is instrumental in providing primary care services to patients of all ages; however, she typically sees mostly adult patients. On a typical day, she will see as many as 15 patients and is available for questions and to provide coverage to the office when the physician is not available. Her role is significant within the primary care practice setting in question because she possess ability to prescribe drugs, even though she requires the approval of the physician prior to the prescribing event. For these reasons, the physician assistant has experience in working with pharmacists and in answering drug-related questions in regards to dosages and formularies, as well as side effects, counter-indications, and interference with other drugs.

Opportunities and Barriers

With this role, the physician assistant is in regular contact with many pharmacists. She observes these roles for their importance in dispensing medications to patients and in serving as the middleman between primary care professionals and patients. From this perspective, the pharmacist serves a critical need to fill prescription orders with the proper dosages and formularies as requested by the physician assistant. There are often many assumptions made regarding the roles of pharmacists in healthcare practice because some observe their roles as minor or less significant than other roles, such as physicians and nurses. However, pharmacists are perhaps one of the most important contributors to healthcare because they bridge the gap between physicians and other clinicians and patients. At the same time, they offer patients much-needed advice and address medication concerns as they occur. Nonetheless, many pharmacists appear to be boxed in to a limited role because many do not work directly in patient care settings, particularly when they work in a retail pharmacy. This type of role is particularly challenging because the perceptions of a drugstore pharmacist are not always favorable. When these assumptions are made, it is often difficult for pharmacists to overcome these stereotypes because of their work environments. Therefore, pharmacists deserve greater attention and respect for the incredibly difficult, challenging, and high risk work that they perform.

Opposing Views

My observations regarding the role of the pharmacist may be different from others because I believe that this role is significant and is a critical component of the primary care team. However, I am not fully aware of the issues that are common in pharmacies and that pharmacists encounter on a daily basis, such as billing and insurance concerns, not to mention the risks and liability associated with dispensing medications to patients. On the other hand, the physician assistant that I interviewed recognizes some of the risks associated with this role and their impact on patients, particularly if there is a medication error. The physician assistant clearly stated that she believes that many pharmacists are undervalued and unappreciated, due in larger part to the assumptions that are made regarding their workplace environments. For example, employment at Walgreens, even in the role of Pharmacist, does not garner significant respect and support from some parts of the medical community. It is difficult to overcome this stigma without a greater understanding of the role and its significance to the entire healthcare team. For the physician assistant that I interviewed, pharmacists are not taken for granted. However, in my perception, this is not always the case and I have made a number of assumptions regarding pharmacists because I do not fully understand the scope of their roles and responsibilities, even as a pharmacy student in training. Therefore, I continue to learn about the profession and its importance to healthcare practice.

Conclusion

From the perspective of the physician assistant, the pharmacist plays an important role in coordinating and completing her treatment plan for patients requiring prescription medications. The pharmacist, according to the physician assistant, serves as the glue to join primary care providers with patients through medication administration. Since dispensing medications is such a challenging process, it requires an effective understanding of the roles and responsibilities of pharmacists in order to recognize their true value to the healthcare team. Nonetheless, the physician assistant appears to have a good grasp on the pharmacist’s role and its impact on her own duties. She believes that since the pharmacist joins primary care providers with patients, these roles must be explored further in order to attract widespread attention to this important work and its value to the healthcare community. It is important to recognize these objectives and to consider other alternatives that will enhance opportunities to observe pharmacists in action and to get to know these roles better. Based upon the open and honest answers provided by the physician assistant, she appears to be well-versed in the role of the pharmacist and recognizes its importance. Therefore, she should also garner attention and respect for her intelligence and professionalism in regards to this issue.