Today’s episode is an interview with Nancy Globus, a pharmacist who uses her voice to advocate for medication safety. I really enjoyed this interview because two of Nancy’s passions overlap with mine: medication safety and poisoning prevention.
Nancy Globus started in the pharmacy business at a young age. Her father opened his community pharmacy the year before she was born. Nancy began “counting pills” at her father’s side and eventually earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy from Rutgers College of Pharmacy. Then, she earned her PharmD from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and completed a one-year residency in a unique hospital, where most of the drugs were ordered and monitored by clinical pharmacists.
Nancy has worked in a number of practice settings. She honed her clinical skills in hospital practice, served roles in medical affairs, and eventually worked a number of years in the Med-ERRS subsidiary of ISMP (the Institute for Safe Medication Practices). There, she became proficient in all areas of medication safety, especially as error prevention applies to assisting the pharmaceutical and biotech industries in trademark safety testing, package label assessments, and other risk-management and regulatory issues.
When she is not saving humanity from confusing drug names and hard-to-read product labels, Nancy can be found translating “medicalese” for family members and friends and obsessing over her nail polish and cosmetics collection. She remains passionate about community pharmacy and has a strong interest in patient advocacy.
Highlights from the interview
Nancy has a passion for medication safety and poisoning prevention. She feels pharmacists are well-positioned to communicate important safety messages.
Drug names are unique for safety reasons.
Medication safety officers are important. They can prevent safety issues.
Nancy talked about the confusion between Losec and Lasix and how Losec became Prilosec.
There is not a clearly-defined path for a pharmacist to do what Nancy does. It’s a very niche job. All her professional experiences led her to medication safety roles.
“We don’t lose. We win, or we learn.” Good advice from Nancy for new grads or pharmacists early in their careers.
Nancy’s dream job would be naming nail polish colors for OPI or being a medical reporter on the TV news.