John Giamalis is an integral member of our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). On any given day, he is a contributing member to patient care rounds, a consultant for complicated medication regimens, and most importantly, a teacher to students, residents, and his colleagues. John has been a pharmacist at the Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children for six years. Prior to his current position, he worked as a clinical pharmacist and a clinical coordinator at various hospitals in the Philadelphia area. John received his pharmacy degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science in 1991.
He currently works in the PICU as a point-of-care or unit-based pharmacist. His responsibilities include performing audits in the morning to make sure no medications are missing, processing medication orders, reviewing patient profiles to determine any medication-related issues, providing drug information, recommendations, and dosing assistance during rounds, and providing detailed information about complicated regimens to the evening and night shift pharmacy staff.
Examples of initiatives that he has implemented include the development of a once-daily aminoglycoside dosing protocol, revision of a total parenteral nutrition ordering sheet, participation in the development of an opiate and benzodiazepine weaning program, implementation of standard concentration infusion protocols and the development of an Alaris® smart pump drug library. In addition, he has been involved in several hospital committees such as the PICU leadership committee, resuscitation committee, the nursing-pharmacy committee, and the standard concentrations committee.
John has been an integral part of the PGY1 pharmacy residency, often taking residents on rotation and collaborating with them for projects and publications. Over the years, his dedication to teaching has led to several honors such as the Pharmacy Residency Preceptor of the Year which he won 3 years in a row and the Residency Program Employee of the Year. He has served as a preceptor for pharmacy students from Temple University School of Pharmacy for several years. Also, he has served as the pediatric pharmacy residency co-coordinator. He is the current preceptor for the elective PICU rotation.
For an example of a clinical consultation that was recently published in conjunction with a former pharmacy resident, please read the following article:
Cies JJ, Giamalis JN. Treatment of cholestatic pruritis in children. Am J Health-Syst Pharm. 2007;64:1157-1162.