Hillcrest Hospital Pharmacist Talks About Dealing With 2,500 Medications

Pharmacies have come a long way from when the first pharmacy school opened in 1821 with a three-year program, Michael Jakubecz, director of pharmacy services at , told Mayfield Area Chamber of Commerce members at a lunch event.

Discussing the "Vital Role Pharmacy Plays at Hillcrest Hospital," Jakubecz said that pharmacy programs have been extended to eight years in places like Ohio State University. All that education is needed because there the hospital pharmacy has 2,500 medications and some patients take 20 to 30 of them.

In his introduction, Hillcrest Hospital President Jeffrey Leimgruber confirmed that assessment, noting that his father takes 26 different medications.

"We have to evaluate how they all work to make sure the patient can handle that," Jakubecz said.

Pharmacists also choose an area of specialty, such as antibiotics or gastrointestinal products, because there are too many medicines to be an expert on them all.

"I don't think any pharmacist can know all there is to know," he said.

Even aspirin is a mystery in that no one knows exactly how it works. Jakubecz said he didn't know if aspirin could get FDA approval if it had to go through the standards in place today.

Adding to the interaction problem are herbal supplements, which some patients fail to mention that they take and can cause serious problems.

At the hospital, part of the pharmacist's job involves educating physicians about medication therapy.

"Pharmacists are part of the health care team," Jakubecz said.

When asked why people are taking so many pills, he said it's because people are living longer and as a result get diseases that come along with aging. They also have those disease states for longer periods of time.

"As diseases progress, we add medications to manage that therapy," Jakubecz said.