Critical Care Pharmacists support patients, parents, doctors and nursing staff in drug therapy in intensive care units. Basis is the monitoring of patients, where dosages are checked and drug interactions, potential side effects and questions about optimising therapy are clarified.
A degree in pharmacy with relevant professional experience in clinical pharmacy or hospital pharmacy is the basis for working as a critical care pharmacist. So far, there is no certified further training in Switzerland. Therefore, the job requires a lot of personal initiative. Critical care pharmacists acquire more in-depth specialist knowledge through self-study in order to acquire the necessary additional expertise in the field of paediatric intensive care medicine. They also rely on contacts and support from colleagues in the UK and the USA, where the Critical Care Pharmacy Service is established.