Alum Kristina Kozlovsky talks managing the drug supply during a pandemic

Kristina Kozlovsky (Rx2018) has never more clearly appreciated the importance of pharmacists as stewards of the drug supply.

Medication shortages have been reported across Canada and COVID-19 has both exacerbated existing shortages and introduced new ones. Kristina, a pharmacist at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, has daily conversations about ensuring judicious use of the hospital’s medications. Part of her role as a member of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) team is to monitor the use, stock and delivery of the medications specifically used in the ICU.

Conservation has become increasingly important as unprecedented demand, particularly of analgesics, sedatives and nerve blockers, has been seen in ICUs across the country. “The potential shortages looming have already led to warnings on rational use from the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians and Health Canada has recently allowed importation of US-labelled drugs to mitigate these shortages,” she says.

The hospital also has policies around conservation of personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure it is available when most urgently needed. As a result, many of the roles Kristina would typically perform in person have shifted.

“Where possible I’m trying to work remotely, from the hospital’s pharmacy, more often. That means providing information over the phone or faxing instead of attending daily bedside rounds,” she says. The hospital is even developing a process for virtual rounds in the ICU to allow all of the ICU team members to work more efficiently.

The ICU team contains many members of different backgrounds — a physician, charge nurse, bedside nurse, physiotherapist, dietitian, respiratory therapist, someone to provide spiritual care and a pharmacist. It’s Kristina’s role to provide medication recommendations, answer questions about treatment options and dosing and to monitor drug therapy, and she continues to do this throughout the pandemic. Consulting resources to learn about relevant drug information is more important now than ever.