Pharmacists ought to stand up and accept their role in reducing preventable injuries and deaths that occur due to erroneous drug prescriptions. This will be in line with the “patient oriented practice” definition as it was used to describe nursing during the formative years. This call is reinforced by the number of people that die or are admitted in hospitals in the US and all over the world; these numbers run into millions.
Although drugs are normally administered with the interest of the patient at heart, perceived sloppiness by either the patient or the nurse have led to disastrous outcomes on the patient’s side. The undesired outcomes affect various components of the healthcare system and the society at large. These include financial costs related to hospitalization, lifetime care for those who become immobile, death of an important member of the family, negative image to pharmacy, and so on. All it takes to prevent these outcomes is a bold move to address drug related morbidity and mortality: pharmacists are best placed to address this issue. Pharmacists must abandon their old ways and adopt a system that focuses on the patient care regarding the effects of drug reactions. However, to make this thought a success, pharmaceutical and nursing bodies will have to establish new standards relating to nursing practice, encourage coordination among various care providers, and increases awareness of pharmaceutical care. However, patients must also be incorporated into these awareness campaigns since a significant number of injuries and deaths from drug use occur due to their failure to use medications in the correct manner. Individual practitioners cannot effect these changes: pharmacists have to come together in an organized union and develop and adopt a standardized patient-centered pharmaceutical care by which all members will conform to.