It’s a far cry from her first forays in dispensaries where her role involved the preparation and supply of medicines. 

 

A former Collegiate student, mum-of-two Lorna is a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast. After training with a community pharmacy in Belfast, she returned to her native Fermanagh and managed Armstrong’s Pharmacy in Lisnaskea for six years. 

 

In 2009, Lorna made the big move to hospital pharmacist with a variety of roles from the dispensary to working on surgical wards and now her specialist role in critical care.

 

“It has been a big change making the transition to hospital pharmacist and becoming part of a much bigger team, which has itself grown significantly since we moved from the old Erne site.

 

Instantly I was working with many more pharmacists and support staff and on the wards I was much more engaged with the nursing and medical teams which I found very enjoyable. 

 

“It has also meant a more clinical role and greater patient interaction. No two days are ever the same as different patients have different needs and there’s always something to learn from them and other team members.” 

 

In her critical care role, Lorna and a team of 40 of pharmacists and technicians, are responsible for treating around 450 adults from counties Fermanagh and Tyrone each year. Before October 2014, her post didn’t exist but as she explained, it was thanks to the innovation of consultant anaesthetist Dr Ronan O’Hare and SWAH’s pharmacy manager Anne Keenan, that the vital role of pharmacists within the critical care team was recognised. 

 

“There had been various guidelines published on intensive care medicine, which all stated that every critical care unit should have a pharmacist. This has been shown to improve patient outcome and reduce wastage because as we all know efficiency is so important in the use of medicinces within the NHS.”

 

Since then Lorna has developed good working relationships with more senior nursing staff through her involvement in service development. One of the more difficult aspects has been experiencing severely ill patients but also seeing up close the work of doctors and nurses to treat them. As a pharmacist, her role is to treat them as safely as possible while also maximising the benefit of the medicines used.

 

“Working as a team on the ward, we all interact closely and take part in daily ward rounds with the patients to decide if we need to change their treatment plan. My job involves looking at what medications they are on and deciding if these treatment options are appropriate or what other options are needed. 

 

“Sometimes if patients are critically ill and different areas of the body aren’t functioning as well as they should be, it’s important to recognise if these treatments or doses need to be changed. That’s where my knowledge is important and useful. Obviously this can be very challenging and difficult at times when people are so ill but we try our best to deliver the best care that we can.”

 

While she misses the traditional dispensary side of being a pharmacist, Lorna says her new role has allowed her to develop more in-depth knowledge and clinical pharmacy skills. 

 

“Since I joined the hospital, my manager always encouraged me to do different courses. Through that I have become an independent prescriber so when we decide on treatment plans for patients,

I can make the changes on our electronic system that allows us to be paperless as much as we can.

 

“The facilities that we have here in SWAH are marvellous and other pharmacists who have come from other hospitals have found it very easy to integrate once they made the move. We are making a direct impact on patient care every day and it’s fantastic to be part of such a hard-working and dedicated team who are primarily focused on achieving the best possible outcomes for patients,”  she added.