This lack of knowledge about their job poses the greatest challenge for pharmacists in gaining recognition for their professional services, says Ms Ang. “We do much, much more than count pills. Most of the real work performed by pharmacists is done so with great savoir-faire and will never ever be seen by patients or the general public.
”Pharmacists are licensed professionals who are required to take a four- or five-year degree course in the university. There is a lot of work behind and beyond bringing that packet of medication to the patient.”
Ms Ang has an honours degree in pharmacy from the National University of Singapore. She joined CGH in 1998 and has been working mainly with elderly patients and younger adults, most of who have chronic medical problems.
Multi-tasker
The in-patient pharmacy is open daily and Ms Ang works on weekdays, weekends and public holidays. She does her rounds in the mornings at the inpatient wards, where she supervises the pharmacy technicians who dispense the medicine.
Along the way, she reviews the patients’ prescriptions, checks that they get the correct medications during their stay and upon their discharge, and attends to those who may need more counselling on a certain type of medicine.
She also advises patients and their caregivers on how the medications should be consumed. At other times, she guides trainee pharmacists or visits nursing homes, where she offers step-down and continuing care pharmacy services.
Says Ms Ang: “A pharmacist’s work extends way beyond the opening hours of the physical store. We also share information with nurses and just about everyone else in the hospital, from drug doses to availability to identification of tablets.
“I also act as a source of drug information for doctors. Sometimes, they need additional information on the drugs, like one that is not registered in Singapore and how to go about obtaining it. They may also wish to know more about drug interactions, how to administer it and whether it can be infused with something else.”
Overseas exposure
Having started her career in geriatrics, the specialisation has captured her interest and fulfilled her passion for health care along the way. In 2003, she spent almost five months in Arizona in the United States, where she learnt about long-term care pharmacy in a nursing home setting.
She says: “Being in a small country like Singapore, we tend to look abroad for guidance in many areas. The practice of pharmacy is no different. The attachment to the nursing home was a good opportunity to see for myself what I have been reading about in the scientific journals and how some practices may be good to adopt in Singapore.”
She adds: “In the US, the approach to growing old and the attitude towards health is very different from that in Singapore. Their health-care system also works differently. That is why there is a very real need for great caution when adopting models of care and practice. Also, in the US, most of their patients speak English, while in Singapore, it is more difficult to explain some concepts to the patients.”
She will develop this body of knowledge further in the next one year in Washington State, where she will look at the role of pharmacy in geriatrics in a variety of community settings. The overseas programme is a joint initiative by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Singapore Pharmacy Council (SPC).
“The MOH and SPC are working towards building a register of specialist pharmacists and I’ve been given an opportunity to develop my special interest in geriatrics,” she says.
“The next few years will be extremely busy ones, which I hope will culminate in more tangible benefits for patients and the development of pharmacists.”
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