News Archive

Pharmacists in Primary Care

6 Mar 2012

The School of Pharmacy hosted a seminar evening entitled Pharmacists in Primary Care on Tuesday 6 March 2012.  This was targeted at undergraduate students to give a clearer insight to the role of Pharmacists in Primary Care. 

 

Three excellent presentations were given.  The first one was delivered by Professor Julia Kennedy, Head of Clinical Pharmacy Practice, who will soon return to her native New Zealand to take up a post as Head of School at the University of Auckland.  She detailed the story of her career, how she started as a clinical pharmacist, her work with patients and the need for a “yes we can!” attitude from our future Irish Pharmacy leaders whom she saw as the current students sitting in front of her.

The second presentation was delivered by Ms Margaret Bermingham who is a postgraduate student and works with the Heart Failure Unit in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin.  She gave some very interesting examples of studies on cardiovascular screening in Cork by community pharmacists which may help in the future to uncover hidden CVD risk in patients who do not regularly access health services.  She also talked about the Cloyne Warfarin Clinic and the service this can provide to patients in the community.

Mr. Frank McAnena who described his new venture, the “Home Pharmacy”, delivered the third presentation.  He outlined the value of going into the home and working with patients and their families to ensure that medicines are taken correctly.  The decline in the number of hospital admissions in this group of patients, as well as the significant reduction in medication wastage, are both tangible benefits from this initiative.   His enthusiasm was infectious as he described how Home Pharmacy developed and how it offers a weekly home delivery of medicine which is especially helpful for people who may be house bound, living alone or who need to support in the proper and safe administration of their medicines.  This innovation has brought pharmacy care into the community and Home Pharmacy and the Pharmacists work as a team with Public Health Nurses, Psychiatric Nurses and the GPs as well as families and carers.

The above presentations provided opportunities for reflection for students and the possibilities that are open to Pharmacists working in Primary Care to develop new and novel ways to work as Pharmacists and continue to build our national and international profile as leaders in the healthcare sector.


This event was kindly sponsored by Actavis Academy, a subsection of Actavis Ireland and Mr Tony Hynes, Managing Director, confirmed his delight to be able to sponsor such an event.

Pictured left to right:  Mr. Tony Hynes, Managing Director, Actavis; Prof. Caitriona O’Driscoll, Head of School of Pharmacy, UCC; Mr. Frank McAnena, Home Pharmacy; Ms Margaret Bermingham, St Vincent’s Hospital; Prof. Julia Kennedy, Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, UCC

 

School of Pharmacy

Cógaisíocht

Cavanagh Pharmacy Building Room UG06 University College Cork

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