Jasvir Parhar is a community pharmacist in Caledonia, Ontario, where his special interests lie in contributing towards the healthcare community as an integral member of his patients’ healthcare team.
“I come across a lot of patients each day in urgent need to be provided a first point of care since they tend to have greater access to me in the pharmacy, as opposed to other healthcare providers who may be unavailable, especially during weekends and holidays.
There was once a situation when a patient ran into the pharmacy immediately after getting stung by a bee, suffering from the beginnings of an anaphylactic reaction. The patient began to develop a rash and breathing difficulties, so I quickly made the decision to take care of this situation by giving her the medication required at that point, providing her additional time to reach a doctor. The next day, she came back to the pharmacy and told me that the attending physician had emphasized that if I had not provided the urgent treatment, the consequences could have been far worse. Every once in a while, when we pharmacists come into situations like this, there comes realization of pride and satisfaction with being able to take the right steps to help patients in distress.
I love the trusted and professional relationships that I have developed with my patients. These relationships allow us to work together to manage their healthcare needs. My future goal involves staying actively engaged with patients as the role of the pharmacists continues to expand beyond the dispensing of drugs. Pharmacists now provide additional services such as medication reviews, administration of vaccines, adaptation of prescriptions, and A1C tests, alongside many more emerging services on the horizon.
As a pharmacist, I believe that my contribution towards the healthcare of my patients could be significantly increased if I was working in a more integrated healthcare system; in the absence of patient connection, other healthcare providers and I work in isolation, and that limits my ability to provide informed follow ups and optimum care to patients. I am hopeful that the evolving technologies will allow us to work more closely with other members of the healthcare team to enhance the experience of all who walk through the pharmacy doors.”
