By Mina Hunjan, Clinical Pharmacist
A few words from Mina about her new role at St Wulfstan Surgery…
My name is Mina and I'm one of the Clinical Pharmacists at St Wulfstan’s surgery. I form part of the multi-disciplinary team looking after Care Home residents.
I've always worked with Care Homes and in my last role, I helped support them through the pandemic. I have to say that in such challenging times, the dedication and care shown by the carers was so inspiring. I'm sure we are all grateful for their efforts and thankful that Care Homes are becoming more accessible once again.
The part of my job I enjoy the most is helping the residents understand their medicines and supporting carers and families during medication reviews. To do this effectively, I spend time at the surgery checking their electronic records for medication lists and dosage, their indications, searching for any interactions and their recent investigations. Then I arrange visits to Care Homes to discuss resident's medications to find out what they take, their medicine likes and dislikes and if it's working! When we talk together, it is a great opportunity to hear the resident's ideas, concerns and expectations of their medicines and get the whole picture. Carers and patient’s families are also invited to give their views, meaning we can optimise resident's medicines in a holistic way and sharing the decision-making process.
At the surgery, we meet in a multidisciplinary team which is led by Dr Viswa, in order to further discuss and optimise our Care Plan. This keeps the health, safety, wellbeing and most importantly of all, the wishes of our residents at the heart of Medicine Reviews and ongoing Care Planning.
Working together like this is hugely satisfying and a great way to look after our most vulnerable patients.