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Balaji Pharmacy

Pharm.D

Pharm.D is a six year professional programme leading to a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. This course is unique because it combines the development and application of advanced clinical pharmacy skills with contextual research. Pharm.D comprises of five years of classroom/hospital-based didactic study and a research project followed by one year’s internship. Core subjects include Pharmacotherapeutics, hospital and Community pharmacy, Clinical pharmacy, Clinical toxicology, clinical research, Pharmcoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, Biostatistics and Research Methodology and Clerkship.

PHARMACY PRACTICE SERVICES

Medication Therapy Management: Customized educational interventions to prevent underutilization, overutilization, inappropriate use, and abuse of certain drugs.

Patient Counselling: Our services go well beyond evaluating patients’ drug profiles. Motivational interviews investigate why patients take medications improperly, break communication barriers with patients and improve their health outcomes by enhancing compliance to physicians’ recommendations.

Drug Information Services: Provides timely, evidence-based drug information to promote safe, rational use of medications.

Clinical Toxicology Services: The services includes poison informations and toxicology screening for accidental and intentional overdoses of medicines, illicit drugs and toxins.

Medication reconciliation: Compares patient's medication orders to medication history and helps avoid errors of omission, duplication, incorrect doses or timing and adverse drug-drug or drug-disease interactions.

Pharmacovigilance (Adverse drug reaction (ADR) monitoring and reporting): Ensures patient safety and involves causality assessment of Adverse Events, ADR reporting and monitoring. We assist clinicians in prevention and management of ADRs.

Periodic Safety Update Report (PSUR): Periodical reporting of the complete safety experience of newly introduced drugs to regulatory authorities. This is a critical component of a nation-wide programme for post marketing surveillance (Phase-IV study). PSUR helps DCGI to make accurate and unbiased decisions for implementing drug safety. Our Department is the PSUR coordinating center for Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. We also publish a quarterly PSUR Newsletter.

Health Screening Programme: Enhances access to screening services to the poor. Our services include monitoring of blood pressure, blood cholesterol, body mass index and blood glucose.

Community outreach Programme: Provides an opportunity to participate in a number of community health programmes round the year, including immunization, patient safety and health education, to raise awareness about drug use and abuse.

VISION

To establish standards and practice of Clinical Pharmacy services, to develop skills and to provide quality and cost-effective use of medicine and medicinal products in patients.

MISSION

To deliver Pharmaceutical care services at different levels of medication management with effective implementation of Pharmacovigilance and Pharmacoeconomic aspect in drug usage process for the judicious use of the pharmaceutical product.

Educational Goals

Application of knowledge and fine-tuning of skills during clinical training.

Application of knowledge and fine-tuning of skills during clinical training.

Training on independence in the deliverance of pharmaceutical care, decision making and decent conduct.

Application of pharmacy ethics with strong adherence to the code of conduct in all aspects of Practice.

To educate the graduate, to get used to teamwork in the field of healthcare to make him/her aware of capabilities and limitations and to train him/her to consult with seniors and experienced colleagues.

To develop, in the graduate, the eagerness to follow up newly emerging issues in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences and to develop skills in reading, searching information in books, References, periodicals and electronic databases.

To develop the graduates’ communication skills with his/her colleagues, the pharmaco and medico team, the patients and their relatives.

The faculty of the Department has the expertise to take-up projects in the areas of pharmacological application with the help of Micromedex software in different disease conditions, such as asthma, hypertension, diabetes etc. Staffs are very enthusiastic in monitoring and reporting adverse drug reaction to improve the quality of life of a Patient through Patient Education and rational use of medicaments.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

The demand for trained pharmacy professionals has significantly increased in recent years due to the phenomenal growth of the health care services/ pharmaceutical industries. Ageing population, rising trends in chronic illnesses, enhanced insurance cover and higher disposable income are major contributing factors. Pharmacists are becoming more actively engaged in drug therapy decision-making and pharmaceutical care. There is a rising demand for pharmacists in a wide variety of occupational settings. Following are some of the numerous and diverse career options available to PharmD/ MPharm (Pharmacy Practice) graduates.

1. Clinical Pharmacy Practice:

Pharmacists are increasingly partnering with physicians in assuming responsibility for medication therapy management, especially in chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension. Specialists are emerging in paediatrics, critical care, cardiology, surgery, psycopharmacy, neurology, infectious diseases and drug information.

2. Community Pharmacy:

Community pharmacists often constitute the first line of health care. In addition to dispensing medications and monitoring patients for adverse effects and drug interactions, pharmacists provide important .

3. Public Services:

State and Central Government Agencies such as State Pharmacy Councils, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) require skilled pharmacists as regulators.

4. Home Healthcare:

Patients formerly treated in a hospital setting are now receiving professional home care. Pharm.D/M.Pharm (Pharmacy Practice) graduates can dispense medication and assist in administration of intravenous antibiotics, pain management medication and chemotherapy. Pharmacists can potentially follow practices already prevalent in developed countries in monitoring the patient’s progress, adjusting therapy as needed.

5. Hospital Pharmacy:

Pharmacists in hospitals have a tremendously expanded role within this traditional role. Pharmacist manage operations and play a decisive role in Pharmacy administration.

6. Managed care:

Popular in developed countries, managed care is a cost effective, comprehensive and integrated health care plan that emphasizes on preventive care. Optimization of drug therapy, development of drug information, evaluation of therapeutic protocols, patient consultation and reducing avoidable hospital visits dominate the managed care environment.

7. Pharmaceutical Industry:

Pharmaceutical industry recognizes the need for technical proficiency among product development personnel. Additionally, skills in research and development provides numerous opportunities. Pharm Ds and M Pharms are actively recruited by major pharmaceutical manufacturers for managing pharmacovigilance, clinical trials, medical writing, medical affairs etc.

8. Pharmacoeconomics:

Society’s demand for experts in pharmaco-economics is steadily increasing. Governmental agencies, health insurance providers, professional associations, hospital administration departments, health care consultancy organizations, pharmaceutical companies are likely to recruit more experts in pharmaco-economics.

9. Pharmacy Education:

Pharm.D curriculum offers a strong foundation in health sciences. Pharm.D graduates regularly join various colleges that impart clinical pharmacy education and research.

10. Specialized Area Opportunities:

Pharmacists with expertise in specialized areas such as consultancy, legal practice, drug information, poison control and pharmacy affairs are gaining ground with time. PharmD and MPharm graduates can pursue PhD to enter academic professions.

11. Research and Postdoc Opportunities:

Pharm.D graduates are eligible to directly join for Postdoc program in various foreign universities.

12. Foreign Pharmacy Licensure Examinations:

Pharm.D and M.Pharm (Pharmacy Practice) graduates are eligible to write various foreign pharmacy licensure examinations including in USA. It is one of the mandatory component of the licensure process of most of the Western countries and is used by the boards of pharmacy as part of their assessment of a candidate’s competence to practice as a pharmacist.