By Marc Sweeney, Pharm.D.
\nDean, School of Pharmacy
\nCedarville University<\/p>\n
Due to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for more frontline healthcare workers, pharmacists have been empowered by the federal government and most states to meet the growing healthcare needs. Considering that pharmacists are educated in a four-year Doctor of Pharmacy graduate program, they are more than qualified to take up the challenge. I find that public perception of most healthcare providers lags behind reality by about 20 years, which is often based upon television, movie, and news portrayal. Today, pharmacists are trained in patient assessment, clinical decision-making, disease management, and of course, medication expertise. With those skills, continued expansion of the pharmacist role was inevitable.<\/p>\n
How are pharmacists roles changing? Regulatory agencies are now allowing pharmacists to expand their prescriptive authority, This includes prescribing chronic medications for patients and ordering lab tests (including COVID-19 tests). Pharmacists are now compounding medications and products where shortages exist. Pharmacists are collaborating with physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to manage patients as a team. Pharmacists are providing services through tele-health electronic platforms. Although COVID-19 has brought significant new challenges to our nation and world, I am encouraged by how the profession of pharmacy is uniquely positioned to serve patients in their time of greatest need.<\/p>\n
T<\/span>he Cedarville University School of Pharmacy<\/a> is equipping its <\/span>Doctor of Pharmacy<\/a> students to be on the leading edge of healthcare innovation. Cedarville’s <\/span>Pharm.D.<\/a> students are fully prepared to begin a rewarding career as a pharmacist and to use their calling to make a difference for Christ as they serve with excellence and compassion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Marc Sweeney, Pharm.D. Dean, School of Pharmacy Cedarville University Due to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for more frontline healthcare workers, pharmacists have been empowered by the federal government and most states to meet the growing healthcare needs. Considering that pharmacists are educated in a four-year Doctor of Pharmacy graduate… View Article<\/a>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,3,15],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n