Role of the Clinical Pharmacist in treatment of Tuberculosis disease (Essay Sample)

ROLE OF THE CLINICAL PHARMACIST IN TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS DISEASE
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Role of the Clinical Pharmacist in treatment of Tuberculosis disease
Background information
Treatment of diseases requires the attention from different professionals in the health care field (Story & Cocksedge 2012). The diseases, such as tuberculosis, that require a long term treatment, poses more challenges and requires more attention and expertise from these professionals (Venkatapraveen, Rampure, Patil, Hinchageri, and Lakshmi 2012). Tuberculosis (TB) is infectious and requires a multidrug treatment therapy, for a long period of time to achieve maximum benefit. This multi-drug treatment can have negative effects to a patient and need to be monitored well by a clinical pharmacist and other Medicare care professionals (Madison 2012). There is a type of TB that resist the multi-drug therapy, and it result to critical treatment problem that will require an effective treatment plan to reduce effects of the disease.
Drug adherence and monitoring is a critical issue in the treatment of TB. Antituberculotic drugs usually interact with food and OTC preparation, variety of other drugs and can affect patients with special conditions (Giberson , Yoder & Lee 2011). These will affect the drug effectiveness in TB therapy. This calls for patient-tailored treatment and greater adherence to the treatment plan and drug dosages. There is a need to establish a management plan to the side effects of the treatment and in development of a treatment plan. The patient and the health care providers will monitors, track and learn from the patient’s medical history, which will help in coming up with a perfect treatment plan for the patient (McDonald 2011). The negative effectives of these antituberculotic drugs should be minimized, from the help from clinical pharmacist, while maximizing on the positive effects to the treatment of the disease. The clinical pharmacist is a very important member of the healthcare team, in the treatment of the TB patients.
Clinical pharmacists are specialist and experts in treatment drugs. Clinical pharmacist can be seen as an individual who has a health specialist in appropriate and rational use of medicinal devices and products (Srisopa, Asuphon,& Montakantikul 2010). The clinical pharmacist work in the medical settings where the medicines are used or prescribed like the hospitals, nursing homes, community pharmacies, hospital, and clinics among other situations. They are more oriented to the needs of the community in the drug use and prescription and will administer and monitor drug uses to various patients (Story & Cocksedge 2012). In the treatment of the TB, the clinical have even a greater role of establishing a long-term relationship with the patient. This allows for proper treatment, adherence to medication, managing the side effects of the TB medicines and monitoring post-treatment responses of the TB patient.
The clinical pharmacist will have many roles and goals in the treatment of the TB (Government of India & Indian Pharmaceutical Association 2013). Promoting the proper and efficient use of the medicine is important in the effective treatment. They will seek to maximize the effectiveness of treatment to each patient. Further, they will work with the patient and other medical professionals to reduce the adverse effects from the various drug treatments (Srisopa, Asuphon,& Montakantikul 2010). The clinical pharmacist will also try to reduce the cost of the treatment for the patient by having information of all available treatments. The clinical pharmacist, therefore, play a very important roles in the treatment of Tuberculosis disease.
Levels of actions of clinical pharmacist in drug use
The clinical pharmacist can influence the correct use of medicine at three levels: before, after and during prescription. Before the drug prescription, clinical pharmacists can involve in activities that will influence drug use (Giberson , Yoder & Lee 2011). These include the involvement in the drug clinical trials, contributing in drug formulas’, and in contributing to the drug information. The clinical pharmacist can work with pharmaceutical companies to come up with efficient drugs, since they are in direct contact with consumers. The clinical pharmacists can also be involved with regulatory bodies to come up with drugs policies. During the prescription, the clinical pharmacist will influence the use of drug in various ways. These include offering counseling to the patients and other professionals on the various medicines (Garcia 2011). They can also offer information that will influence the patient’s attitudes and adherence to various drug uses. Clinical pharmacists are also responsible for detecting and monitoring the negative effects of drug use and evaluation of prescription profile of different drugs. They also monitor the dosage during the prescription. Finally, clinical pharmacist can prescribe the use of medicine to a patient directly when over the counter medicine is purchased.
The clinical pharmacist will also influence the treatment after prescription in various ways. They will offer counseling, drug use evaluation, pharmacoeconomic studies, communicating to the patient and monitor the drug use (Venkatapraveen, Rampure, Patil, Hinchageri, and Lakshmi 2012). The treatment of TB will require the clinical pharmacist to get involved in the three stages with the maximum time and energy. In additional to the above functions, a clinical pharmacist must create a follow up plan to the patient of TB and ordering monitoring and interpreting laboratory tests to the patients.
Provision of value added care to the TB patients should be the goal of the clinical pharmacists. There is a need to recognize the clinical pharmacist as an important part of the treatment therapy for the patients and should be registered by the necessary legal bodies (Story & Cocksedge 2012). They should be recognized as health care providers to allow them to perform expanded roles in delivering patient care functions and in the management of diseases (Madison 2012). The process of the TB management will require much of the clinical pharmacist time. Medication is used in over 80% of the patient’s treatment and affects many aspects of the patient life. The drug morbidity and mobility increase the treatment of diseases.
Ensuring Drug adherence is one of the most important jobs of the clinical pharmacist. The clinical pharmacist has to ensure the right dosage is taken at the right time by the patient (Government of India & Indian Pharmaceutical Association 2013). Non-adherence to the drug prescription can result to more complicated disease conditions. One of the negative effects of the non-adherence to the medication is the development of mutant TB virus that will be resistant to further medication using the conventional multi-drug therapy. This Mycobacterium tuberculosis will increase the disease risks to the patient; increase cost of treatment and poses a major complication in the treatment of the disease. Clinical pharmacist will provide the necessary information and the various counseling to the TB patient on the effects of non-adherence to drugs. They will also motivate the TB patient in taking drugs by clearing all the doubts and worries of the various TB drugs.
Non-adherence will, further, increase the risk of treatment failure to the patient. There will be increased risks of further spread of the TB which will increase the health risk of the community (Venkatapraveen, Rampure, Patil, Hinchageri, and Lakshmi 2012). The responsibility of ensuring adherence to the treatment is a responsibility of all health care providers, but clinical pharmacist have a major role to play due to the knowledge and expertise in medication. Direct observation therapy, incentives, inpatient management commitment, and court ordered direct observation therapy are some of the main methods used by the health care providers and the government in ensuring adherence to anti-TB treatment (Srisopa, Asuphon,& Montakantikul 2010). Uninterrupted anti-tuberculosis therapy is very effective in nearly curing TB. Non-adherence or low adherence to the anti-TB treatment is a major cause of increased disease spread and a major hindrance in the complete elimination of the disease. There are different factors that may affect adherence to the anti-TB treatment. Factors such as the traveling costs and smoking are the main cause of non-adherence to newly diagnosed patients, while the short age of drugs and alcohol consumption become a major factor in the residual patients.
The ease of drug access is one key factor that improves significantly the adherence levels to the patients (HRSA CARE Action 2010). The clinical pharmacists must ensure that all the necessary combination of drugs is available over the treatment period, which mostly last for over six months, for the TB patients (Garcia 2011). The clinical pharmacist will also assist to arrange for flexible financial arrangements with the patient, to ensure continued supply of the drugs over the treatment period. Clinical pharmacist must have the necessary knowledge of all the TB drug subsidies from the government, and other necessary legal rights for the patients (Venkatapraveen, Rampure, Patil, Hinchageri, and Lakshmi 2012). They will advise patients on the best and easiest ways to access medicines throughout the treatment period. The clinical pharmacist will require working with the patient to reduce the travel related costs and allow for the development of cost-effective treatment plan. The reduced costs will encourage the patients to take medications as per required dosages. Clinic pharmacist has to work closely with the patient in regulating the alcohol and smoking habits to...