Pharmacy Services Supported by a Provincial Drug Information System: Presentation at CAHSPR Annual Conference 2011: Renewing Federalism, Improving Healthcare: Can This Marriage be Saved?
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The purpose of this study was to document valuable pharmacy services and determine how they were impacted by or enhanced by the Prince Edward Island's (PEI) Drug Information System (DIS), implemented in 2008. The results are intended to inform further planning, decision making and quality management.
The study was based on an ethnographic framework. Data was collected on the services provided by pharmacy personnel in PEI's community pharmacies and on the impact of the PEI DIS on delivery of pharmacy services. We sought the pharmacists' perspective on pharmacy services; system usability; change management; and technology adoption.
The methods included: semi-structured interviews with pharmacists, pharmacy managers and other pharmacy workers; in-situ workplace observation; and workplace conversation in PEI pharmacies over two one-week periods.
We conducted our study at 23 of PEI's 43 community pharmacies. The sample included rural and urban, chain, banner and independent stores. Pharmacy services to the public and the health care system were categorized as: medications management, professional pharmacist, clinical services, or managerial services. For example, pharmacies provide primary care through monitoring patients' health in relation to their medications, immunizations, first aid, employment of pharmacy nurses and referral. The trust relationship among pharmacists, prescribers, patients and their families, and other healthcare providers was observed. At the time of our study, the PEI DIS was normalized in day-to-day use.
All pharmacies in PEI maintain and populate the provincial DIS to allow sharing of profiles and better medications management for patients. Use of the DIS for information to support patient-centered medications reviews and counseling was the most frequently noted area of professional pharmacy service enhancement supported by the DIS. The benefit of pharmacy work accrues often to the client/patient or to the healthcare system in terms of economic benefits, health education, improved health and reduced stress on clinician resources. Pharmacists share in patient care with other healthcare providers and have stewardship over the patients' medications information in PEI DIS.