Is the title of "attending" so foreign in the realm of pharmacy, so associated with traditional medical training, that we cannot conceptualize its meaning as including the duties of a highly skilled and specialized pharmacist? Pharmacy as a profession is an evolving landscape, a springboard of new ideas. With pharmacists advancing to more specialized roles as members of multidisciplinary health care teams and guiding students and residents, is it not time for the term to take on similar meaning and definition in this related and complimentary field?We are all familiar with the attending physician -a physician who practices medicine in a specialty learned during residency. An attending physician oversees medical students, residents, and fellows. He or she may be affiliated with a university and carry an academic title, such as professor. Even when decisions are provided by residents, interns, and medical students, the attending physician has the final responsibility for patient care. In this same manner, the title of attending pharmacist may not seem too implausible to describe the pharmacists' roles in patient care and student education. The pharmacist uses the knowledge gained through years of schooling to positively affect patient care. He or she forms relationships of trust with physicians and can pave the way to the recognition of less senior pharmacists or those in training (ie, pharmacy residents and students) as drug experts. Physicians will then be more likely to accept their recommendations and see them as being important in optimizing patient care. The attending pharmacist is accountable both for the quality of patient care and for training and educating upcoming pharmacists.
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