Potential Roles of a Pharmacist on the Care Team

​Adding a pharmacist to the resident care team, especially one with residency training or certification in geriatrics, could improve quality and safety and promote person-centered care, according to an article published April 18, 2014, in Long-Term Living. By reviewing medications, pharmacists can identify medications from a hospital stay that should be discontinued, for example. Pharmacists may also be important to preventing pseudodementia, which is when medication side effects can resemble dementia. Failing to recognize that a medication is causing the issue can lead to an erroneous diagnosis—and possibly more medications.