Cody Babcock, Pharm.D., has been in the pharmacy at Eisenhower Army Medical Center for seven years, joining right after finishing his degree. He currently works in the inpatient pharmacy so most patients don't have much interaction with Babcock. The ...
Heather Pearson, pharmacy technician, is an Augusta native who came to Eisenhower Army Medical Center eight years ago, straight out of college. The pharmacy at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, along with health care facilities nationwide, celebrated N...
Adrian Smith, pharmacy technician, has been in the Army for three-and-a-half years and at Eisenhower Army Medical Center since May of this year. The pharmacy at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, along with health care facilities nationwide, celebrated ...
Josalyn Elliott, a pharmacy technician student at Aiken Technical College in Graniteville, S.C., is just about a month and a half into a clinical rotation. The spouse of an active-duty service member, Elliott comes to the region from Colorado Springs...
Effective health care is a highly collaborate and team-oriented practice. It includes hand-on clinical care at the bedside from physicians and nurses at all educational and technical levels.
Pharmacists are not necessarily at the bedside in body but they are in spirit and commitment.
The pharmacy at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, along with health care facilities nationwide, celebrated National Pharmacy Week Oct. 16-22.
According to Capt. Christopher J. Gormley, PharmD, chief, EAMC's Ambulatory Pharmacy Services, pharmacy week was an ideal time for pharmacists to acknowledge and celebrate their achievements in ensuring safe and effective medication use.
EAMC has three fully stocked pharmacies, two at the hospital and one in the Exchange. At the Outpatient Pharmacy, located on the second floor, there are 14 pharmacists and 20 pharmacy technicians. In the Inpatient Pharmacy, there are eight pharmacists and 10 pharmacy technicians. The Inpatient Pharmacy is staffed 24/7.
At the Exchange Pharmacy, there are four pharmacists and 14 pharmacy technicians.
The Exchange Pharmacy has been a big benefit to customer service, said Capt. Babajide Fagbemi, chief, Inpatient Pharmacy at EAMC, allowing beneficiaries, active-duty service members and retirees to enjoy shorter waiting times.
The average wait time at the pharmacy for the past year is 12 minutes,, according to statistics provided by Gormley, but the past six month average is down to 10 minutes.
But it also pays to plan ahead and the pharmacy leadership tracks the daily visits to ensure bottlenecks are minimized.
Peak volume times are 10 a.m. to noon, and 2-4p.m., at all Eisenhower Army Medical Center pharmacies. The best times to arrive are first thing in the morning and after 5 p.m., at the Exchange and Main Outpatient pharmacies. In the past 12 months an average of 33,000 prescriptions are filled monthly at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center pharmacy.
Volumes and waiting time are important to customer service but the key element of the pharmacy's mission is accuracy and patient safety. All pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are trained and committed to ensuring the correct medications, in the correct dosages, are dispensed per the physicians' instructions. They are also constantly on the look out to ensure medications do not conflict, creating adverse interactions, or dangerous or unpleasant side effects.
The pharmacists may often seem as if they are cleverly hidden in plain sight but they are essential to the EAMC mission. The next time you are in any of the pharmacies at Fort Gordon … or even in the community … be sure to recognize the role these health care providers play in ensuring your continued good health.
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