Today we went on our first rotation in a community pharmacy/home health setting. In the community pharmacy, we learned the different screenings that the pharmacists do. This included diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and smoking cessation. Most of the practices are the same, however we learned that in Thailand, there are no prescriptions for medications. Instead, pharmacists will screen patients and suggest a medication that is appropriate for them based on their signs, symptoms and the standardized Thai pharmacy guidelines. Also, pharmacists are more limited to certain practices than pharmacists in the US. An example of this is not being able to check HbA1C, blood glucose, or give immunizations. We were also lucky enough to experience a home health visit and witness the pharmacist and pharmacy students perform physical assesments and med recs with two patients. The pharmacist and students also educated one of the patients on his new medication and provided nutrition and exercise education. Overall, it was great to learn and see how pharmacy is practice in the Thai community and we were a little shocked as to how similar it is to the United States.
Alejandra, David, Mariam
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