This attention to detail and his ability to pass on his knowledge so well to his father, along with his track record of helping other biochemistry students, was enough for two pharmacy student friends to convince Lam to pursue his Doctor of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto.
“They recognized that I was focused on my studies and used that information to teach others what I knew, which translated well to learning about medications, interactions and dosages and how to teach that to patients,” Lam recalls. “For a pharmacist, that means being able to focus on the details of medications, evaluate medications and teach those to others, whether they be nurses, doctors, patients or other healthcare professionals.”
Specializing in geriatric pharmacy and obtaining specialist training in this field in 2017 promised him that his job would continue to be interesting.
“I thought about it logically. Young, healthy adults don’t take many medications. While there is a role for pharmacists here, it is not all-encompassing,” says Lam. “But as people get older, they get more illnesses and need more medications, but sensitivity to medications increases, so the role of a pharmacist becomes more influential.”
When he was hired in 2019, there was no geriatric pharmacist position at Niagara Health, but it didn’t take long for Lam to carve out his niche here. He was asked by the geriatrics program to create a set of instructions for geriatric management, including delirium. After working on that, he was selected for the new geriatric pharmacist position to work on a special geriatric pharmacist advisory service.
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