Defining and Advancing Ambulatory Care Pharmacy
Posted by Brooklyn T. Cobb, PharmD, BCPS and Nicholas Owens, PharmD, BCPS on May 11, 2018
Ambulatory care pharmacists are developing patient and provider relationships at Cooper.
Cooper’s partnership with University of the Sciences – Philadelphia College of Pharmacy has resulted in pharmacist working collaboratively with health care teams at the Cooper Advanced Care Center, Cooper Rowan Clinic, and Outpatient Infectious Disease Offices. The expansion of this partnership continues as ambulatory care pharmacists begin to join additional Internal Medicine Practices with the goal of increasing direct patient care and medication management services as members of an integrated health care team.
This expanded role for clinical pharmacy consultation has become increasingly common and has shown impressive results for improving outcomes in a variety of conditions. These pharmacists leverage their medication expertise to ensure safe and effective medication use while catering the services they offer to the specific needs of a patient population. As an example, discussions with Internal Medicine physicians at Cooper’s Multispecialty Center in Camden made it known that diabetes management, specifically medication access and education, could be a useful starting point for their new pharmacist’s efforts. Working with patients overwhelmed by multiple medications and complex disease states has proven to be an additional service valued by the physicians and Population Care Coordinator (PCCs) working at this office.
Visits with ambulatory care pharmacists frequently involve a comprehensive medication review to identify opportunities for medication regimen optimization and simplification, patient education, adverse effect management, and monitoring. Ambulatory care pharmacists also serve as a resource for assessing cost-effective medication selection and responding to drug information requests. New Jersey laws allow physicians and pharmacist with a professional relationship to develop collaborative practice agreements that can grant pharmacist the ability to modify and monitor medication regimens with an increased level of independence.
Patient and provider feedback regarding ambulatory care pharmacist services have been positive. Physicians have expressed their appreciation for pharmacists’ detailed documentation, ability to educate patients, thorough drug information responses, and overall diligent follow-up on complex patient situations. Physicians have reported that the delegation of patient care activities to pharmacist team members has allowed them to spend more time with their patients working on their other care needs. Clinical outcomes are currently being collected in an effort to show the impact of pharmacist services on patient outcomes.
