Encouraging Collaboration Between Pharmacy and Optometry Students

Stephanie Conway, PharmD, RPh, Associate Professor at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences—Worcester, discusses best practices for encouraging collaboration between pharmacy and optometry students.

Stephanie Conway, PharmD, RPh: The best way for pharmacy and optometry to work together actually stems really from education, and this is why making sure that various pharmacy- and optometry-related topics are incorporated into various pharmacy curriculums and optometry curriculums. Once students graduate and then they’re in practice, it is very important that pharmacists and optometry really consider the implications that either of their positions have on one another. So pharmacists need to make sure that they’re very clear when discussing medications with optometry patients or with optometrists, just as optometrists really should make sure that they are providing a good amount of information to their patients regarding what pharmacy-related products they might need.