Close Up Radio Spotlights PharmD Expert Dr. Gourang Patel

Inverness, IL – The number of medicines on the market are in the tens of thousands. What is not entirely known are all of their effects on the body or how healthcare teams can best utilize them.

To best support the patient, today’s pharmacists must be even more of an expert than the traditional drug store Rx with a more robust understanding of disease states than they can learn in the classroom.

Enter the PharmD.

PharmDs attend an additional year after school where they rotate through hospitals, similar to a medical student, to experience the bedside and clinical piece firsthand.

Dr. Gourang Patel is the PharmD Expert, a clinical pharmacist in the Intensive Care Unit and Perioperative area, as well as a consultant, specializing in the areas of pharmacy, toxicology and pharmacology.

As a PharmD, Dr. Patel works with the physicians and the team to look at the patient's medications and provide consultation on how to adjust a drug dose.

“Maybe it's what side effect to look for. Maybe it's dealing with a side effect that the patient had that they come into the hospital,” says Dr. Patel. “You evaluate all that clinical information, chronic disease states, laboratory values, medicines and then you make a recommendation on how to adjust their treatment.”

According to Dr. Patel, pharmacists have been included in the perioperative area only in the last 10 years. Prior to that, the pharmacist never left ‘the box.’ PharmDs have evolved the pharmacist beyond its transactional role to become a crucial contributor to the clinical team.

“I’m proud of being able to give back to the scientific community and patient care,” says Dr. Patel.

For more information, visit www.pharmdexpert.com