Pharmacists and Doctors

Pharmacists seen as taking on work once restricted to doctors, nurses.

The Washington Post (1/12, Boodman) reports that pharmacists "are moving into areas that have long been the exclusive province of doctors and nurses: providing immunizations for diseases including H1N1 influenza, screening for chronic health conditions such as diabetes, counseling patients about the increasing panoply of medications they are prescribed and, in a sour economy with dwindling access to health insurance and primary care, offering basic medical advice." Lynnae Mahaney, president of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, said pharmacists have become "'physician extenders' in hospital and community settings." She also said drug therapy is "much more complicated, both the number of medications we have and the number of patients" taking medications.