Introduction
Clinical observations are of great importance in clinical environment and extremely beneficial to those associated with pharmaceutical care. Since drug interactions are a perpetual cause for concern to those who administer drugs, the knowledge regarding the effect of drugs is extremely beneficial. Clinical observations are therefore of tremendous advantage to the different section related to pharmaceutical care including oncology, surgery and even extended care to patients.
This paper, aims to address some of the clinical observations in distinct pharmaceutical care settings through interaction with patients in the clinical environments. The practical settings in which these observations were experienced were highly beneficial and created awareness and understanding of the important aspects of pharmaceutical care when serving and delivering the medication to the patients in distinct backgrounds.
Main body
Direct interaction with patients enables exposure to the needs and problems of patients which would otherwise would not have been possible in the retail setting. Interacting with patients serves the dual purpose enhanced knowledge and understanding in addition to the evolution of compassion and care required in the care of the ill and hospitalized patients.
In the field of oncology, observations include patients to whom medication for nausea reduction is being administered along with chemotherapy. The researcher observed the compassion of the nursing staff towards the cancer patients who had true compassion and understanding of the rigorous treatment of the patients. In the surgical domain, the observation provided great insight regarding the interaction between the surgeon and the anesthesiologist with regard to the vital signs of the patient undergoing surgery.
It was important to note the function of the anesthesiologist and his complete command of the situation regarding the adjustments for the required fluctuations of the vital signs and how the surgeon truly trusted and relied on his expertise.
Within the field of extended care, the observations included the different routes of administering drugs to patients. These routes included intravenous administration, oral administration and administration through G-tube for feeding the patient. Drugs are delivered and maintained by different departments through different methods and equipments including bottles for storing pills, blister packs and individual plastic wrapped tablets which are dispensed by the pharmacy robot.
The clinical observation also included special instances when the tablets could not be swallowed by patients and hence had to be crushed and mixed with other fluids such as juices and puddings.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that clinical experience has been a source of crucial knowledge and consideration for the researcher. The varied experiences have made the researcher aware of the vital aspects related to the care and deliverance of pharmaceutical products to patients, which would not have been possible in merely a retail environment.