Ashley Quintili, PharmD, PittPharmacy ‘08, is practicing on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic as the Adult Critical Care Clinical Coordinator at Hershey Medical Center. Pharmacists at Hershey Medical Center continue their valuable work during this COVID-19 pandemic.
In Ashley’s words, “We currently have one critical-care-trained pharmacist on the COVID team per week (M-F) dedicated in a 7on/7 off capacity. This pharmacist is an integral part of the multidisciplinary team caring for COVID patients. We round each day with the ICU service, making proactive, in-the-moment recommendations as conditions change. As the primary pharmacy team member for COVID, I am actively involved in protocol and orderset development as well as therapeutic management. I evaluate current practices, working to optimize medication administration to limit nursing exposure. As a team, we constantly review available literature, always looking for ways to optimize patient care in a dynamic, ever changing environment. As the co-chair for the drug shortage committee, I critically evaluate available medications, determine ways to minimize waste, and develop conservation and contingency plans. As a group, we work together to positively impact medication management for a critical group of patients. In addition to the ICU team, we have key pharmacy team members in the ED, on the ID service, and rounding remotely on all non-ICU COVID patients.”
