One to One awardees build relationships with patients

Abstract

Pharmacy Today honored pharmacists for their outstanding counseling and patient care at last month’s 2012 APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition in New Orleans. Student pharmacists and pharmacists received round-trip airfare to APhA2012 and 2 nights’ hotel and were recognized at an awards dinner. A full list of the 2012 One to One Patient Counseling Recognition Program recipients appeared in the March issue of Today. The program was made possible through the generous support of McNeil Consumer Healthcare. Today will profile each of the top 10 One to One pharmacist awardees through the spring. This month features two pharmacists who establish long-term relationships with their patients by providing ongoing care with frequent follow-up counseling sessions. Traci Brooks, PharmD, a clinical pharmacist at the Wounded Warrior and Pain Clinics at Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg, NC, provides medication management to active duty men and women who have been wounded or injured or are ill. She keeps her patients safe by monitoring for drug-drug interactions and adverse effects. Counseling this patient population can be challenging because of physical and emotional injuries that patients incur from training missions and deployments. Brooks recently met with a patient who requested a refill for rizatriptan (Maxalt—Merk); she noticed that the prescription had been filled within the past 10 days. After further discussion. Brooks learned that the patient was taking the medication daily to prevent headaches, rather than on an as-needed basis at the onset of a headache. Brooks provided medication education and counseling, and the patient learned about the appropriate use of his medication, decreasing the chance of worsening his condition from medication overuse. Brooks was instrumental in developing an outpatient detoxification program for active duty personnel. Pain and Behavioral Health clinic providers asked Brooks to provide expertise in opening a buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone— Reckitt Benckiser) clinic. She took the lead in creating criteria for patients to be seen at the clinic, including weekly screenings, safety checks, and medication counseling. Once patients are enrolled in the Suboxone clinic, Brooks counsels them about the role of the drug in their treatment and any adverse effects they can expect. Through weekly interactions, she builds a rapport with her patients and they feel comfortable disclosing issues that may affect their treatment plan. Through these ongoing relationships with her patients, Brooks ensures that they are following their treatment plan and are evaluated for dose adjustments. One Special Forces soldier sought out Brooks after completing his treatment with Suboxone. He thanked her for saving his life and said that the program she manages enabled him to be a better husband and father. The personal goal of Patrick Devereux. PharmD. is to provide one-on-one counseling services to every patient who fills prescriptions at FMS Pharmacy in Bessemer, AL. As the vice president of the pharmacy, Devereux believes in building long-term relationships with his patients. He recently added in-depth patient follow-up procedures to the pharmacy’s standard patient counseling sessions. When a new medication is initiated or when an existing medication is changed, the patient is counseled as usual, and counseling points are noted in the patient’s chart. The patient is contacted 5 to 7 days later to assess if there are any adverse effects. Through this process. Devereux identifies patients who have stopped taking their medications because of adverse effects and works with prescribers to find alternative options for these patients. Devereux uses the follow-up consultation to sync medication refills for his patients. Typically, within 3 months, Devereux is able to formulate a strategy that allows patients to make only one trip to the pharmacy to refill chronic medications. The system is also useful in determining nonadherence, because patients are able to receive refills on all chronic medications at the same time each month. When patients come in to get all of their medications refilled. Devereux takes this opportunity to talk to them about any medication adherence problems. He also strategizes with patients and prescribers to ensure optimal medication use. Devereux established the only accredited diabetes education program in a community pharmacy in Alabama. He completed a pilot program in his pharmacy and has since marketed the program to additional contracted payers. “Of all the pharmacists I have worked with, Patrick far exceeds all the expectations of normal patient counseling,” wrote Devereux’s nominator, Lindsey Elmore, PharmD, BCPS, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Residency Program Director for the Community Pharmacy Residency Program at the Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy.