Nursing & Patient Care
Pharmacy liaison role bridges care and research
Like other clinicians at Dana-Farber, pharmacists are highly skilled at bridging clinical care and research. On a given day, they can be found reviewing research protocols, advising clinicians on drug dosing, supervising the preparation of chemotherapy infusions by pharmacy technicians, and consulting with patients. Over the past year, the Department of Pharmacy introduced a new role the pharmacy liaison that allows pharmacists to work more closely with teams of providers in ways that further enhance the integration of clinical care and research.
Marjorie Brown, RPh, was one of the first to assume this role. She and colleague Caroline Harvey, RPh, a research pharmacist, now meet regularly with clinicians who care for patients with multiple myeloma. During the meetings, Brown shares observations based on her encounters with patients in the outpatient pharmacy. I also learn about each patients treatment plan and raise any questions I might have about a patients prescription, says Brown. As a result, I can often have patients medications waiting for them in the outpatient pharmacy. This makes it so much easier for patients and family members.
As a research pharmacist, Harvey also finds the weekly meetings beneficial. She explains that when patients are enrolled in a study, questions about medication dosing inevitably arise. During the meetings, she says, the entire team is present to discuss any dose modifications that might be necessary. By the end of the meeting, were all on the same page.
Paul Richardson, MD, clinical director of the Jerome Lipper Center for Multiple Myeloma, is quick to note the benefits of having both Brown and Harvey at the team meetings. Between the two of them, he says, they are able to address almost any medica tion issue were likely to run into in clinical care or research. Both Margie and Caroline are vital to our clinical research and are invaluable members of our team.
