Lauren Casey Named Pharmacy Director for Bates County Memorial Hospital
Lauren Casey, PharmD, is the new director of pharmacy at Bates County Memorial Hospital (BCMH), a position she assumed earlier this month. Casey has worked as a pharmacist at BCMH for 10 years.
Lauren grew up in Kansas City, KS and earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Kansas. After getting married to her husband, Bryan, they moved to Georgia so her husband could go to college there. While he was in school, Casey worked in a lab, but her husband knew she wanted to do something different.
“Math and science were always my favorite subjects, so we found pharmacy to be a good choice. He urged me to apply to pharmacy school, and I got accepted.” Following her husband’s graduation, they moved back to Missouri, and in 2008, Casey graduated from the School of Pharmacy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City with a doctorate.
Upon graduating, Casey worked in retail pharmacy at Walgreens. The pace was hectic; some days, she said, she felt she was working a conveyer line. When she had the opportunity to work for Bates County Memorial Hospital in 2012, Casey jumped at the opportunity, in part because the schedule would benefit her family life. The transition also proved gratifying for her professional goals.
“I like the idea of hospital pharmacy because I feel like I can make a difference in a patient’s care. I have the ability to make recommendations or modify patient orders to provide the best care,” she said.
The role of the hospital pharmacist is quite involved as they work with the hospital’s medical staff to ensure all orders are correctly dosed and administered. In addition to filling orders for medications required in the operating rooms or for patients on the medical-surgical floor of BCMH, Casey is part of the team overseeing care for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and other infusion treatments at BCMH.
As director of pharmacy, Casey will focus on ensuring the department is following state and federal laws and the rules and regulations regarding the practice of pharmacy and makes sure the hospital remains compliant and up to date with any safety and quality standards.
“I have enjoyed the small-town hospital feel of working at BCMH. We get to know the patients and their histories. We are able to provide a more personalized level of care here that the big hospitals may not be able to provide.”
Casey and her husband live in Raymore, Mo. They have two sons, ages 14 and 12.
