Consultant Pharmacist

In case you’ve never seen it, there’s a popular science experiment involving Diet Coke and Mentos: When you add the candy to the soda, the result is a giant, foamy explosion.

Although they probably won’t explode inside you, medications are a lot like Diet Coke and Mentos. Because they’re made of powerful chemicals and compounds, they’re prone to volatile reactions when they’re mixed, which can produce dangerous and unpredictable results.

In facilities where medications are prescribed en masse, the need is therefore great for an expert who ensures the safety, security, and efficacy of prescribed medications. When you’re a Consultant Pharmacist, that expert is you.

Employed by a consultancy and contracted by hospitals, nursing homes, retirement communities, and other long-term care establishments, a Consultant Pharmacist is a liaison between facilities that administer care and pharmacies that provide drugs. As a result, if you’re a Consultant Pharmacist, you straddle the line between Retail Pharmacist and Hospital Pharmacist. Like the former, you’re licensed to dispense medicationse. Like the latter, meanwhile, you’re also responsible for advising Doctors, Nurses, and patients on the proper selection, dosage, combinations, and usage of drugs.

Your job isn’t just dispensing drugs and advice, however. You’re also in charge of monitoring facilities’ drug practices, including what drugs they’re prescribing, how much, how often, and to whom, your goal being to make sure the facilities are prescribing drugs safely and in accordance with all state and federal laws regulating the storage, distribution, and usage of pharmaceuticals. In that sense, you might say you’re a pharmaceutical Police Officer, keeping the peace between patients and their meds.