LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Maj. Ronald Elazegui is the Flight Commander who oversees the laboratory, radiology, and pharmacy; and Capt. Xrystina Nims is the Pharmacy Element Chief of the 61st Medical Squadron (MDS), Space Base Delta 3 at Los Angeles Air Force Base (LA AFB). Both are passionate pharmacists that enjoy serving the 67,000 beneficiaries in the local area.
Unlike other patient care clinics in the MDS, such as Family Health or Dental who see only active duty and dependents, the pharmacy serves anyone with Tricare insurance and access to the base. This means, in addition to supporting servicemembers and their families, the pharmacy also provides support to retirees and veterans on Tricare who live locally or eligible members who are on vacation and need a prescription filled – our LA AFB pharmacy is there to serve, processing about 250-300 prescriptions a day.
Elazegui was inspired to work in the medical field by his mother, who was a lab technician. Growing up around medicine, he naturally pursued it. His other inspiration was his sister becoming a pharmacist. Another long-time dream of his was to join the military, so when he was introduced to an Air Force recruiter during pharmacy school, he commissioned upon graduation. After 13 years serving in the military, including two deployments; he smiles when he reflects on his experiences which led him to where he is today.
Nims shares a similar story; she was always interested in healthcare, even as a little girl. She thought she wanted to be a doctor, but when she started college and learned more about the profession, she realized it didn’t align with other life goals. One summer, during college, she was supervising a summer camp for high schoolers where they were introduced to many different career fields. She was exposed to pharmacy through the camp and quickly realized, she was destined to pursue a career in this field. As a pharmacist, you’re still a doctor and see patients, but there are other opportunities to specialize such as drug management, development, or research. After starting pharmacy school, she was accepted into the Air Force Health Profession Scholarship program. When upon graduation, she commissioned and came to LA AFB.
What is the role of pharmacists, and what do they do anyway?
Nims explains, “Pharmacists are the medication experts. To give some perspective, a pharmacist gets four years of pharmacology, so we get a lot of training and an in-depth knowledge base on medication across the board; how, why, and when they are used. Anytime there is a question about medication or medication management, that’s where we come in.”
The doctor sees and diagnoses the patient, orders labs, decides a treatment plan and prescribes medications. If they have a medication question, they defer to the pharmacy. “When it comes to specifics like what’s covered by insurance and what’s best for the patient; maybe they are diabetic and have high blood pressure, so one medication might be better because it will hit both of those. To achieve that individualized care, needs a pharmacist on the team,” Nims added.
This attention to detail and in-depth knowledge of medications recently resulted in Nims saving a life. When reviewing a prescription, she identified if was unsafe to the patient. Had she filled the prescription as the doctor ordered, the patient would have died. When you turn in a prescription, there are layered processes to ensure you receive the right medication —safely—and correct dosage in a timely fashion. These processes create safety, in identifying issues early such as wrong medication directions, inaccurate dosage, drug, or even patient. Something seemingly small like a birthdate being one day off, or a letter difference in a middle name is something pharmacists must catch to ensure the patient is not harmed.
An advantage of filling prescriptions through the 61st MDS Pharmacy is knowing the pharmacist and provider are working together every step of the way. Nims shared, “One of the things I love about our clinic here is that we are co-located with the providers, and they trust us in our clinical judgement, so there is a lot of collaboration; It’s my favorite part of being a military pharmacist.” She continued, “In the civilian world, if you’re working in outpatient pharmacy, that doesn’t happen; there is a big chasm between community pharmacy and the provider’s office where they don’t always communicate with each other.”
Another difference between military and civilian, outpatient pharmacies is the additional duties both Elazegui and Nims have at the clinic which include medical readiness, pharmacy operations, antimicrobial stewardship, and serving on the pharmacy and therapeutics committee. When there are natural disasters, military pharmacists’ deploy Active Point of Distributions (PODs) that serve up to 10,000 patients in a day, dispensing critical medications safely and effectively.
All this to say, it’s impossible to treat filling prescriptions like a fast food service where you place your order, expect it to come quickly, and leave. It’s a layered process built to keep patients safe and prevent medical errors, errors which could pose life altering consequences. On world pharmacist day we invite you to consider how hard your provider teams work to provide high level, individualized care, aimed at taking care of you!
Pharmacy Resources
The best way to send the LA AFB Pharmacy prescriptions is to have your provider send an electronic prescription to DoD Los Angeles Pharmacy (search by zip code 90245). Another way is to have your provider fax the prescription to 310-653-6658 with a coversheet identifying the origination from a provider’s office.
LA AFB Pharmacy hours:
Monday to Tuesday: 0800 to 1600
Wednesday: 0900-1600
Thursday-Friday: 0800-1600
LA AFB Pharmacy Website: https://losangeles.tricare.mil/Health-Services/Pharmacy
If you have any patient related issues that you would like to address, please contact LA AFB’s Pharmacy Patient Advocate, Technical Sgt. Alyssa Green.