CONSULTANT PHARMACISTS; THE IMPETUS FOR
IMPROVED NIGERIANS QUALITY OF HEALTH
Did you know that over 80 percent of health
conditions are treated with drugs and other
pharmaceutical products? It is a well known fact
by all health professionals that medications play
a significant role in patients care. Are you aware
that there are over 25,000 prescription products
available in the World today compared to 650
prescription products available in 1960’s?
According to United States Food and Drug
Administration (USFDA), there are over 25,000
registered prescription products as of June,
2014. Did you know that over 50 percent of
patients with chronic illnesses are non-compliant
with their medications? Are you aware that lack
of compliance by patients, drug interactions,
drug misuse, drug abuse, failing interaction in
the health services and prescription errors
contributed to over 80 per cent of treatment
failures? In a research conducted by Farup PG et
al, the cumulative of these factors contributed 84
percent to treatment failure. Did you know that in
Nigeria there are over 10,000 Nigerians to one
pharmacist far above World Health Organization
recommendation of one pharmacist to a 1000 of
the population? According to Mrs Gloria
Ebumere, the Acting Registrar of Pharmacists
Council of Nigeria, there are 16,970 registered
Pharmacists as of May 2012 (Punch Newspaper).
Are you aware that in over 30 states of the
United States, physicians enter into agreements
with pharmacists to jointly manage patients’
drug therapy? Did you know that the ONLY health
care professional that has comprehensive,
exclusive and expert knowledge about drugs,
cosmetics and other pharmaceutical products
are pharmacists? Are you aware that one of the
most trusted, accessible and reliable
professionals (not just in the health care sector
but in all professions) in the World are
Pharmacists? In an annual poll conducted by
Gallup In 2013, pharmacists placed second
among the professions listed, with 75% of
respondents expressing a high or very high
opinion of their honesty and ethical standards.
Pharmacists retain a spot in the top 3 for the
tenth consecutive year.
Who are Pharmacists? According to Wikipedia,
Pharmacists are health care professionals, who
practice in pharmacy, the field of health science
focusing on the safe and effective medication
use. A pharmacist is a member of the health
care team directly involved in patient care.
Pharmacists undergo university-level education
to understand biochemical mechanisms of the
action of drugs, drug uses, and therapeutic roles,
side effects, potent drug interactions and
monitoring parameters. This is mated to
anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology.
Pharmacists interpret and communicate this
specialized knowledge to patients, medical
practitioners and other health care providers.
Pharmacists are involved in every aspect of the
preparation and use of medicines, from research
and development to eventual supply to a patient.
In a nutshell, pharmacists are drug experts.
Who are Consultant Pharmacists? According to
America Society of Consultant Pharmacists, a
Consultant Pharmacist is a Pharmacist who is
paid to provide expert advice on the use of
medication by individuals or within institutions,
or on the provision of pharmacy services to the
institution. Consultant Pharmacists ensure that
their patients’ medication is the most
appropriate, most effective, most cost-effective,
the safest possible, and are used correctly. They
are saddled with the responsibility to identify,
resolve and prevent medication-related
problems. They accomplish this through a
comprehensive consultation that provides a
thorough, one-on-one review of all your
medications;prescription, over-the-counter,
herbal and nutritional. A Consultant Pharmacist
has studied and acquired extensive knowledge
and experience in observing and properly
assessing the health of patient, advocating
healthy living practices and diseases prevention
for patients, identifying medication-related
problems that can cause, aggravate or contribute
to common patient problems, making it easier
for patient to take their medications properly by
labeling, packaging and organizing prescription
drugs better and understanding the role of care
giver, the financial challenges that patients can
face, and the importance of choosing appropriate
care.

IMPROVING YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE
In addendum to possessing skills specifically
tailored to individual patient’s need, Consultant
Pharmacists have a different perspective from
most Doctors to dispense medication for a
patient. A consultant Pharmacist would first look
if the symptoms might itself be a side effect of a
current medication.
For clarity purpose, what does the above
statement imply; Does your medication make
you drowsy? Do you feel anxious, confused or
depressed? Do you sleep poorly at night? Is your
thinking foggy? Are you having a severe
headache? Do you have dry cough?
All of the above symptoms may be pretty related
to taking your medications. For example, a high
blood pressure patient taking Agiontensin
Converting Enzyme Inhibitors (ACEI) like Ramipril,
Lisinopril or Enalapril to mention a few may have
dry cough as a side effect. A consultant
Pharmacist will evaluate the overall picture of
how your medication is affecting your quality of
life. This will make a huge difference for you and
your loved ones. Consequently, it generally
affects the well-being of the society.
In addition, to the above services, a consultant
Pharmacist helps to identify and reduce
medication related problems such as drug
interactions and side effects with his extensive
knowledge in Structural Activity Relationship
(SAR) and pharmacology. A typical example is
when you take your paracetamol with alcohol.
Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen
chemical structure contained a benzyl ring with
NHCOCHʒ and OH at the Para positions. In other
words, it is a phenolic group (alcoholic group),
which when used with any other type of alcohol
increases the work load of the liver, therefore
causing increased liver metabolism which can
subsequently lead to liver diseases. Consultant
Pharmacists help to eliminate unnecessary
medication due to poly pharmacy, simplify the
system of taking medication therefore eliminating
complex medication, reduce medications cost,
serve as your advocate with your Doctor to
ensure the use of most appropriate medications,
promote wellness and help in identifying
untreated problems.
For hundreds of millions of people across the
world, especially in America with chronic
illnesses, Consultant Pharmacists play a vital
role in ensuring optimal drug therapy thereby
improving patients’ quality of life. In their role as
medication therapy experts, consultant
pharmacists take responsibility for their patients
medication-related needs, they ensure that they
receive the optimal care.

AN ATMOSPHERE OF MISCONCEPTION!
Let me also use this medium to clear the air on
those people who believe that 80 per cent of
people who eventually studied pharmacy failed to
gain admission to study medicine. Consultant
Pharmacist and the current President of the
Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Pharmacist
Olumide Akintayo gave an insighful and factual
response in an interview with Punch Newspaper
on October 26, 2013, "The fourth estate of the
realm (The Press) has a sacred responsibility to
report and put issues in their right perspective.
Your question is an obvious fall-out of deliberate
propaganda orchestrated by some stakeholders
in healthcare. At the First Doctors Summit in
Asaba, Prof. Wole Atoyebi, a past President of
the Nigerian Medical Association submitted that
part of the problems in health care was that
people who could not gain admission for
medicine settled for other courses in health care
and now want to enjoy the benefit of what they
could not attain as students. Graciously they
allowed me to participate at that session and in
the full glare of the over 1,000 delegates from
across the country, I submitted that the entry
point for pharmacy was higher in the great
University of Ife (now OAU) than any other
course in the university system. Ife is the best
rated in this country and despite all hiccups, it is
still highly rated both in the Commonwealth and
Africa.
I openly challenged the delegates at the
conference like I am still doing even now to
controvert evidence that the entry point for
pharmacy is not one of the top five in any
Nigerian university that it is offered. In my days,
the entry point for direct entry students was a
minimum of 12 points in physics, chemistry and
biology. You may want to find out, no student is
admitted into a pharmacy faculty except
pharmacy is the course of first choice. So, the
chance of opting for pharmacy if you cannot
study medicine does not even arise most times.
As prelim students in Ife, when pharmacy
students take courses in mathematics and excel
because you are not allowed to carry over,
medical students took courses in sociology and
economics because they were failing
mathematics in numbers.
These are verifiable facts. Do find out what it
takes to study pharmacy in our universities and I
can boldly confirm to you that the rigour is
second to none. Just find out from any neutral
person who passed through a university where
pharmacy is offered. This is why a pharmacist
who is worth his salt cannot be consumed by a
persecution complex or siege mentality. Why
else do you think pharmacists excel in all
sectors? Go to the telecoms and check out the
number of pharmacists who are at the top
echelon at MTN, Airtel, Glo and Etisalat. In
banking, pharmacists are directors and vice
presidents and so on. Do find out how many
pharmacists are in charge of oil and gas
companies in Nigeria."

NIGERIANS HEALTH ARE IN THEIR HANDS
I firmly believe with every fibre of my being that
discerning Nigerians of all ages, tribes and
regions who are keen about improved quality of
life for all Nigerians regardless of the
geographical location will key in to the necessity
of having consultant Pharmacists in Nigerian
hospitals. Barrister Tosin Ayo, in his wisdom
gave us a better clue on the meaning of
consultancy when he wrote, "The word
'Consultant' is derived from the Latin word:
'consultare' meaning "to discuss". A consultant
is thus a professional who has a wide knowledge
of a subject matter and who provides
professional and expert advice in a particular
area such as security (electronic or physical),
management, accountancy, law, human
resources, marketing, public relations, finance,
health, media practice and journalism,
engineering, science or any of many other
specialised fields. From the foregoing definition,
it means any health professional can be a
Consultant in his/her own field so long as the
medical doctors are not only also made
Consultants but remain the traditional
Administrative heads of medical institutions."
There is wisdom in the words of Albert Einstein
when he opined, "In matters of truth and justice,
there is no difference between large and small
problems, for issues concerning the treatment of
people are all the same."


Pharm. Sesan Kareem is a young Nigerian
Pharmacist and Author. He writes from Lagos.
Sesankareem2@gmail.com — with Dauda
Sunday Afolayan-adeyeye .