The clue is in the name.
Community.
From time to time I am lucky to be invited to local events to share a little bit about what it is like to be a community pharmacist.
I recently went along to speak to a group of ladies who were members of the ‘Rural’. In England I think the equivalent is the Women’s Institute. I described a little about the role of the pharmacist and of course spoke about asthma.
I think engaging like this is really positive for a number of reasons. First I live in the town where I practice so it was actually really nice to meet some of my patients in a slightly less formal setting compared to the pharmacy.
I found it very nice also that there was time to chat. Community pharmacy these days operates at such a fast pace that the time to talk to patients for a little longer is often just not there.
Finally I think engaging with, and describing the evolving role of a pharmacist is really important. This is done to greatest effect by those pharmacists who are on the ground practising. For example most of the group did not know the extent of the potential remit of an independent prescriber. I also brought up the question of pharmacists not having access routinely to the patient medical record in Scotland. The consensus was that pharmacists should most certainly have record access but more so if the pharmacist was in a prescribing role.
The atmosphere was great and the evening was topped of by a group selfie inspired by Mohammed Hussain. For many in the room this of course was their first selfie!
Thank you to the ladies for their kind gift of a hand made pen. It is lovely and I shall use it with pride in my day to day practice.
