David Tong is a qualified Pharmacist and one of our Medicine Review Specialists. Learn more about his role within Claims Pharmacy in our spotlight interview.
What is your background in pharmacy?
I studied my Bachelor of Pharmacy at The University of Sydney. As a student, and following graduation, I spent 7 years working in both community and hospital pharmacy settings. I have been with Claims Pharmacy for 5 years, while also currently working in the industry.
What is your role at Claims Pharmacy and how does it benefit injured people?
My role at Claims Pharmacy is as a medication review specialist. I look to benefit patients by making recommendations that optimise a quality use of medications. My role benefits Injured People by making their safety the first priority. This may involve a change in dosing regime, dose reduction or use of alternate agents.
What do you find rewarding about your role?
I find using my clinical knowledge to collaborate with primary and secondary care physicians to optimise treatment selection, dosing and monitoring very rewarding. No one case is ever the same as every patient has their bespoke needs, so it is clinically engaging to try and find “gaps” for medication optimisation. I also enjoy the autonomy and meaningful impact our clinical expertise has on helping guide physicians to the right treatment and dosing, that ultimately benefits their patients. The Doctors we work with tend to be very grateful for our input.
How have you found the role compared to your previous background in pharmacy?
The role is very clinical and collaborative. It provides the opportunity for pharmacists to use our expertise in medicines to benefit patients. This reminds me of my time as a hospital pharmacist using my purple pen to check off drug charts and liaise with other allied health care providers. One difference is rather than advising patients on how their medicines should be taken in the safest most effective way, we send this direct to all stakeholders.
What benefits do you think reviewing medications provides?
As a pharmacist, being able to see the entire medication regime provides the opportunity to flag drug interactions that may lead to polypharmacy and other adverse effects. The benefit of this is that we can undertake reductions in the number of tablets an Injured Person needs to take, achieve a lower pill burden and seek to embrace nonpharmacological avenues to lead to better health outcomes. I think being a conduit between different treating physicians also helps to streamline communication.
What is an interesting area of pharmacy and medication you have found while working at Claims Pharmacy?
The use of newer antidepressant therapies and analgesics. We have also seen a rapid growth in the use of medicinal cannabis, and I am eager to see what evidence emerges in the future and how this fits in with the current guidelines.
What do you think is the most important thing people should know regarding medication reviews?
Injured People should know we are here to help. We are a key player in the health care team. We provide our clinical expertise with the aim of optimising medication use to ultimately achieve better outcome.