Pictured are the members of the Pharmacy Team, Lance Endsley, Pharm D, FMH Director of Pharmacy, Judy Ray, CPhT and Bobby Bridgeman, CPhT.
American Pharmacists Month is a great opportunity to celebrate the pharmacy staff of Fairfield Memorial Hospital. This team of professionals includes Pharmacist, Lance Endsley, PharmD, along with Pharmacy Technicians, Judy Ray, CPhT and Bobby Bridgeman, CPhT. Lance has been serving as the pharmacist of FMH since 2011, and even worked as a student at FMH during his schooling. Judy Ray, CPhT, has been with FMH for 37 years and Bobby Bridgeman, CPhT, for one year. Their dedication to FMH and its mission is unshakeable as they utilize their skillful knowledge gained over the years.
A Hospital Pharmacist in a rural hospital comes with great responsibility and they often are working behind the scenes to care for the patients. The Hospital Pharmacist checks prescriptions to make sure there are no errors and that they’re appropriate and safe for the individual patient. They provide advice on the dosage of medicines. Lance often participates in rounds to take patient drug histories, serves as a liaise with other medical staff on problems patients may experience when taking their medicines, and will discuss treatments with patients’ relatives, community pharmacists and GPs. Another large quality control responsibility on the Director of Pharmacy’s shoulders is ensuring medicines are stored appropriately and securely, supervising the work of pharmacy technicians, and answering questions about medicines from within the hospital, other hospitals and the general public. Keeping up to date with, and contribute to, research and development, writing guidelines for drug use within the hospital and implement hospital regulations, and providing information on expenditure on drugs is another few tasks that are extremely important. Some additional duties of a pharmacist include preparing and quality-checking sterile medications, for example, intravenous medications and overseeing the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program.
At Fairfield Memorial Hospital, a pharmacy technician’s job includes filling medication carts, inventory control, checking crash carts, and checking all medication in the hospital to ensure accuracy and dating. The technician can also mix intravenous (IV) antibiotics and trouble shoots for medication problems or issues. In addition, technicians are required to be knowledgeable enough to search for and secure medications that are many times readily unavailable or simply hard to find, but are needed in a hospital. They also take care of medication billing for the long-term care units.
“I appreciate the help that our techs provide both me and the organization as a whole. It is admirable the amount of responsibilities our small team has to oversee in a single day. We work very well together to complete our tasks with great success and accuracy to ensure safety and quality of care for those we serve,” said Lance Endsley, PharmD, FMH Pharmacy Director.
