TRANSCRIPT: 

David Lowe
When I’m meeting with my oncology doctor, the oncology pharmacist is in the room at the same time. So if anything should come up, possibility is right there to get the answers, directly.

Annette Monroe
What they do for treatment and what they give you for side effects made things go very smoothly as far as the treatment went. And that was a very big thing for me.

Holly Sharpe
The pharmacist comes. He talks to me one on one. He explains why this treatment, why this, course of care.

Michael Vozniak, PharmD, BCOP
Hi. My name is Michael Vozniak, and I’m the president of the Hematology Oncology Pharmacy Association. HOPA is committed to helping improve patient care. With over two thousand members, we provide ongoing education and leadership for the industry to enhance patient care. Personally, and I know my colleagues across the globe would agree, we take great pride in working with medical professionals to develop a holistic care plan that is unique for each patient.

Speaker 9
as long as I can remember, I wanted to be involved in the care of cancer patients. I had a young cousin who was diagnosed with leukemia and underwent a bone marrow transplant as I was growing up. And so I’ve always wanted to be able to work directly with patients, and being an oncology pharmacist allows me to do that.

Niesha Griffith, RPh, MS, FASHP
In my role as an administrator, I work with other patient care leaders to ensure that our patients get the most cost effective appropriate cancer medication for their specific type of cancer.

Michael J. Berger, PharmD, BCOP
Oftentimes, pharmacists are behind the scenes working directly with the care team. Physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses might come to us for advice in terms of what we can all do to optimize their drug therapy.

Dr. Jessica M. Clement, MD
When I have a new patient, I will go in and spend time with the patient and their family discussing their diagnosis, what further testing may be in place, and, of course, the ultimate treatment plan. I will give an overview of the drugs, the side effects, and the schedule. I then will bring in our oncology pharmacist as a resource to the patient and the family to ask further questions about the medications.

Bhuvana Ramaswamy, MD
As far as patient safety is concerned, I would say that the pharmacist are the most important people to ensuring patient safety during cancer therapy, and they do it by two ways. They review the cancer treatments we give as well as any other drug either the patient is on or we give and ensure there is no, interaction between those drugs, and this is critical for patient safety.

Holly Sharpe
The patient, works very closely with the healthcare team from the beginning of their diagnosis all the way through their treatment, as well as beyond treatment, what we call the survivorship period of a patient’s, cancer journey.

Michael J. Berger, PharmD, BCOP
So over the last several years, our options have really evolved such that we don’t have just a one size fits all approach, but our pharmacist teams are able to very much customize a personalized approach for patients.

Michael Vozniak, PharmD, BCOP
HOPA members are deeply committed to patient care. We are involved in care across the care continuum, and we want our patients to succeed.

Niesha Griffith, RPh, MS, FASHP
At HOPA, it’s our goal to ensure that you receive the best care possible. We do this by providing our members with the education and resources they need to support you and your care team.