compliance

[Ivana]

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I don't know if this subject was posted before but... how can a pharmacist, in a community pharmacy, improve patient compliance?

 

[Caverject]

I don't know if this subject was posted before but... how can a pharmacist, in a community pharmacy, improve patient compliance?

We send out our little miracle workers to ensure copliance.

 

[Ivana]

LOL

Where can i buy one of those?

 

[baggywrinkle]

We send out our little miracle workers to ensure copliance.

You just have to be firm

 

[Ivana]

You just have to be firm

Great, i have just an outfit for that..

no, seriously, i need that for my final paper 🙁
i mean, i have read a lot about the subject, but i think there is much more to write about....

 

[baggywrinkle]

Great, i have just an outfit for that..

no, seriously, i need that for my final paper 🙁
i mean, i have read a lot about the subject, but i think there is much more to write about....

Proper patient counseling. Going over each medication in the bag. Opening the vial, pouring a tablet into the cap and playing show-n-tell. This is your blood pressure medication, you take it once a day. Doing this for refills also as part of your counter routine. That is how they teach it, but I have never seen it in the real world.

Mail and phone reminders. Walgreens has an automatic-refill option and the computer will nag you when there is one sitting on the shelf.

Knowing your patients, calling them by name, being interested in their health concerns. Making Rite Aid's slogan "We make it personal" a practice standard.

Holding health clinics in your store for the common ailments. Diabetic day. Cholesterol Day, ect. A variation on this theme is running a column in your local newspaper with your helpful smiling local pharmacist face smiling at the reader.

Giving talks about health and compliance in the local schools. Children are very good at nagging their parents

 

[bananaface]

I show people their tablets when they pick them up. People like that alot and many of them will complement you on it. On refills I usually pop the cap while they are fiddling with money or a signature slip and just say "these tablets should look like what you have had before." For new ones I pop the top while I'm counseling. It really doesn't take more than 5 seconds longer to "show and tell", if you work it into a good flow.

One thing that is important is follow up. We don't have a way to track who is overdue for a medication, but when you run refills, you can see if they are early or late. Early refills on a narcotic or late refills on maintenance meds are a good reason to prod a little during counseling. Alot of times people will have a hard time remembering to take their maintenence meds so I'll talk to them about ways to remember, offer them a pill box, etc.

(okie... time for work)

 

[ultracet]

you could also .... if you're not in a busy store.... fill the weekly pill things for them..

 

[Ivana]

Mail and phone reminders. Walgreens has an automatic-refill option and the computer will nag you when there is one sitting on the shelf.

The only problem is we don't do refills (all drugs are bought in original packages), so we don't have that kind of information about a patient in the pharmacy... 😳

 

[baggywrinkle]

The only problem is we don't do refills (all drugs are bought in original packages), so we don't have that kind of information about a patient in the pharmacy... 😳

Umm, that could be an opportunity for you to get a leg up on the competition.

Seriously!

You don't do refills. But you don't need refills either.

Start keeping patient profiles. The original patient profiles were done with a paper system and were in response to the need to be able to track a prescriptions by name rather than by number only.

This system is easily workable in a small pharmacy of around 100 or less per day.Name, address, phone number, allergies, medical conditions on the header
with a listing of prescriptions by date ,RX number, drug, directions, physician, and quantity. That is all you need.

As you fill original prescriptions the you create a patient profile and enter the original prescriptions. Over time you will have enough information to manually screen for drug interactions and allergies. At the first of the month the profiles are gone through screening for maintenance medications and mailings are done to remind the patient that it is time to go see the physician for a new prescription. Color coded tags on the profiles can help identify patients who are part of the reminder program.

It's easy, it's do-able. Indeed, it has been done.

This system is even easier when computerized. You can do your patient profiles using a database program such as Microsoft Access, or Claris Filemaker pro. Or better yet, purchase one of the many pharmacy programs available on the market just for this purpose, such as PDX.

Such databases are required by law in America for tracking and auditing. You may initiate such a database on your own for in-house use only. The first time you do a prospective DUR and catch a duplicate drug, a drug interaction, or an allergy, and notify the patient or the patient's physician you will see the power of this system. Your physicians will love you for it.

 

[Ivana]

Which one of those programs do you prefer?

 

[baggywrinkle]

Which one of those programs do you prefer?

Microsoft Access is a very powerful program and easy to come by. You can do just about anything with it. The other program I have no experience with
though I suspect it is just as good.

Ask Dana (Dgroulx), I think she was a programmer in her life before pharmacy school.

 

[Ivana]

Microsoft Access is a very powerful program and easy to come by. You can do just about anything with it. The other program I have no experience with
though I suspect it is just as good.

Ask Dana (Dgroulx), I think she was a programmer in her life before pharmacy school.

Thank you 😉