“Every day, I find it an honor and a privilege to serve our patients as a caregiver.” ~ Matt Madurski, PharmD A LEADER IN WORLD-RENOWNED HOSPITAL CARE Matt Madurski, PharmD, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) School of Pharmacy Class of 2013, serves as a pharmacist at the Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio. Since having been graduated from LECOM almost three years ago, Dr. Madurski has noted a comprehensive change in the field of pharmacy as he experiences the seminal and indispensable position that pharmacists now occupy in health care. In hospitals of all sizes, pharmacists always have been an essential resource on physician rounding teams. Now however, pharmacists are poised upon the very cusp of providing direct patient care through agreements with physicians. “I am living that very aspect of pharmacy practice now in my role at the main campus of the Cleveland Clinic - the home base of one of the largest health systems in the world. Every day, I find it an honor and a privilege to serve our patients as a caregiver,” Dr. Madurski affirmed. Dr. Madurski is deeply involved in the pharmacy functions at the Cleveland Clinic; and he has left his imprimatur of leadership upon the institution during the time that he has served with the system. “I have been involved in almost all aspects of pharmacy in the time that I have been at the Cleveland Clinic,” said Dr. Madurski. Those aspects include patient counseling, rounding with physician teams, working with drug information teams, training students and residents, and developing skills in internal medicine. Most recently, Dr. Madurski has assumed a new responsibility in product sterilization, ensuring that patient-specific IV and oral medications are made properly. His duties include those of overseeing technician compounding of IV medications and of ensuring stability and sterility of medications dispensed to all areas of the hospital.
“I have found that pharmacist involvement in patient-centered care has been invaluable; and indeed, many physician and nursing teams have commented about the benefit of having a pharmacist involved in patient decision-making,” remarked Dr. Madurski. “As a pharmacist who works on patient floors, I have rounded with physician teams and I have been able to offer input and suggestions to help improve patients’ overall care and to assist in their transition to life outside of the hospital,” furthered the LECOM alumnus. His leadership role ensures that the patients for whom he cares are as educated as possible about the medications that they are taking and that they understand fully the link that those medications have to their overall health. “I have direct access to patients in the form of medication counseling, answering their questions, and providing education for patients about their medication regimens,” commented Dr. Madurski. “I further that direct patient care by addressing nursing questions about IV compatibility, missing medications, and questions about medication administration. We are taught from the beginning of our pharmacy school experience that we are the experts in medications, and I definitely believe that my experiences have underscored this truism,” affirmed the LECOM leader. “We are called upon daily to supply input that helps our colleagues provide the best possible care, and that is the goal in the end,” he concluded. For many with aspirations to work in the field of medicine, the idea of such a career seems mysterious, especially if one has no family members (or friends) in the profession. Many who seek a pharmacy education are first generation college students and the knowledge gained through this degree program offers a powerful ability to change entire families for the better. A sole person who understands the health care system, who comprehends all of the most common chronic diseases, and who knows the way in which medications manage those diseases, can confer a significant and wholly life-affirming benefit upon the entire family and to all whom one encounters. Such career trajectory reflects, in part, the course taken by this laudable leader; for Dr. Madurski has endeavored upon a uniquely trodden path along his journey to the calling of his lifetime. His career as a pharmacist was realized after having worked as a newspaper journalist and as communications and public relations specialist for a decade before enrolling in pharmacy school. In fact, Dr. Madurski was working as a Communications Assistant at LECOM Erie when he made the decision to change careers. The accomplished pharmacist attributes his success to the wholly probative depth of experience that he found at LECOM.
Dr. Madurski is certain that the recent pharmacy evolution has resulted in a new and vibrant role for the pharmacist in patient care. @1LECOM | LECOM CONNECTION 15