Point-of-Care Testing in Community Pharmacies: Keys to Success From Pennsylvania Pharmacists

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 629-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily A. Steltenpohl ◽  
Brandon K. Barry ◽  
Kim C. Coley ◽  
Melissa S. McGivney ◽  
Julie L. Olenak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Clinical Laboratory ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
Improve Patient Satisfaction ◽  
State Regulations ◽  
Community Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments ◽  
Improve Patient

Background Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-waived tests allow for quick, accurate, and noninvasive laboratory testing. Community pharmacists utilize CLIA-waived tests to provide clinical services such as point-of-care (POC) testing to help manage chronic disease and acute illness. Objective To identify key themes in the successful delivery of POC testing services by community pharmacists in Pennsylvania. Results An initial search identified 51 Pennsylvania pharmacies with a CLIA waiver. Of these, five independent pharmacies met inclusion criteria, three of which completed interviews. The remaining 38 chain pharmacies were represented by three interviews. In total, five key themes were identified as essential to POC testing services: (1) utilize state resources and professional connections to navigate federal and state regulations, (2) establish relationships with physician partners (3) offer tests that are meaningful to patients and their physicians, (4) evaluate financial impact, workflow adaptations, and marketing approaches when implementing POC testing services, and (5) focus on individualized attention and convenience of community pharmacy-based POC testing to improve patient satisfaction. Conclusion Successful POC testing services in community pharmacy practice rely on utilizing resources, partnering with known physicians, selecting meaningful tests for patients, and analyzing finances, workflow, and marketing to provide individualized attention and convenient care.

Utilization of influenza and streptococcal pharyngitis point-of-care testing in the community pharmacy practice setting

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 356-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald G. Klepser ◽  
Michael E. Klepser ◽  
Jaclyn K. Smith ◽  
Allison M. Dering-Anderson ◽  
Maggie Nelson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Streptococcal Pharyngitis ◽  
Practice Setting ◽  
Point Of Care Testing ◽  
Community Pharmacy Practice

scholarly journals A GLOBAL PICTURE OF EXTENDED PHARMACY SERVICES, PERCEPTIONS, AND BARRIERS TOWARD ITS PERFORMANCE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazri Nordin ◽  
Mohamed Azmi Ahmad Hassali, ◽  
Azmi Sarriff
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Literature Search ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
Database Searching ◽  
Medication Counseling ◽  
Community Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Negative Perceptions

  Objective: The aims of this review were to observe extended services performed in the community pharmacy settings, perceptions among community pharmacists (CPs), general practitioners (GPs), and customers of these extended services and barriers toward its performance.Methods: A literature search was conducted, using Google Scholar as database, searching for full access texts. The inclusive texts fulfilled the inclusion criteria.Results: A total of 22 texts had been systematically reviewed, noting a wide range of extended services performed in community pharmacy settings. Medication counseling or review and promoting health educations were noted as the most extended services performed. It is also noted that CPs indicated that these extended services could establish working relationship with other health-care professionals. However, it is noted that among the barriers toward extended services were lack of knowledge, skills, and time to perform.Conclusion: As a conclusion, the community pharmacy practice is evolving, transforming into more patient-oriented even though there are some negative perceptions among the customers and GPs toward these extended services. Barriers to the performance of these extended services should be intervened.  

scholarly journals Community pharmacy–based H. pylori screening for patients with uninvestigated dyspepsia

2020 ◽  
Vol 153 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Papastergiou ◽  
Michelle Donnelly ◽  
Terence Yuen ◽  
Wilson Li ◽  
Bart van den Bemt
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
World Health ◽  
Ulcer Disease ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
H Pylori ◽  
Screening Technology

Background: Helicobacter pylori is identified by the World Health Organization as a major risk factor of gastritis, peptic ulcer disease and gastric carcinomas. As point-of-care screening technology becomes more widely available, pharmacists are ideally suited to use this tool to screen patients with H. pylori infection. Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of implementing point-of-care screening technology for H. pylori into community pharmacy practice and to assess the number of patients who are positively identified as a result of testing. Methods: Three pharmacies in Toronto, Ontario, offered H. pylori screening as part of their clinical programs. Pharmacists enrolled patients with symptoms of dyspepsia and/or receiving acid suppressant therapy for >6 weeks. Decision to screen was based on the Canadian Helicobacter Study Group Consensus (CHSG). Patients were screened using the Rapid Response H. pylori test. Results: Seventy-one patients were recruited, with a mean age of 46.3 years. Patients were ethnically diverse, with a significant proportion (59.2%) identified as being born outside of North America, including Asia (26.8%), Africa (9.9%), the Middle East (7%), Europe (9.9%) and South and Central America (5.6%). Overall, the detection rate of H. pylori infection was 21%. North Americans had the lowest incidence of an undiagnosed H. pylori infection (6.9%). Europeans (28.6%), Middle Easterners (20%) and Asians (21.1%) had a moderate incidence, followed by the highest prevalence in those of African descent (71.4%). Conclusion: These results highlight the readiness of community pharmacists to adopt H. pylori screening into practice and to leverage this novel technology to positively identify and treat undiagnosed H. pylori infection. Can Pharm J (Ott) 2020;153:xx-xx.

Community Pharmacy Practice and an Aging Population

1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 119-124
Author(s):  
Edward D. Sumner ◽  
Ronald P. Durand ◽  
Carol J. Lancaster ◽  
George E. Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Community Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Pharmacy Curriculum ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
The Impact

Objective: To determine pharmacists' perceptions of the influence of older patients on community pharmacy practice. Data Sources: A mailing list obtained from the South Carolina Board of Pharmacy provided names of community pharmacists by practice setting and gender. Design: A questionnaire was mailed in July 1990 to a random sample of community pharmacists in South Carolina. The questionnaire contained 41 Likert-type opinion statements. Demographic questions relating to practice type and location, pharmacists' educational experiences, and position were included. Data Synthesis: The opinion statements were examined by grouping respondents on the basis of demographic information. Analysis of variance or Student's t-test was used to look for differences among survey responses among various groups of pharmacists. Scheffe's test was used to compare means when the groups were significantly different. The a priori level of significance was 0.05. Critical values were adjusted by the number of statements considered to preserve the error rate at five percent (Bonferroni procedure). Conclusions: The strongest indicator of the impact of the elderly population on community pharmacy is pharmacists' perceived need for more continuing education in geriatrics and gerontology. Economic problems, physician overprescribing, and patient compliance were ranked as the three most difficult aspects of geriatric pharmacy. This study reinforces the need to incorporate geriatric/gerontology education into every pharmacy curriculum.

scholarly journals The Community Pharmacy Technician’s Role in the Changing Pharmacy Practice Space

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Brooke Taylor ◽  
Bella Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Clinical Laboratory ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Pharmacy Technician ◽  
Medication Therapy ◽  
Medication Information ◽  
Article Type ◽  
Pharmacy Technicians ◽  
Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments

Purpose: The practice of pharmacy and role of pharmacists has evolved over the decades but markedly since the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010. The ACA allowed patients to have increased access to community pharmacy services, such as medication therapy management, leading to an increase in the clinical services provided by pharmacists. This expansion of pharmacist’s roles has led to pharmacists to feel an increase in workload which negatively impacts the time spent with patients. One way for this shift to occur without continuing to increase the pharmacist’s workload is by using technicians as pharmacist extenders to take on more technical tasks. Summary: The role of pharmacy technicians has been slow to expand from fear of public safety due to the lack of required education and training. Today, state requirements to practice as a pharmacy technician have become stricter with state requiring licensing, registration or certification. This increase in requirements as led to the expansion of pharmacy technician duties. Studies show that pharmacy technicians are able to perform technician accuracy checking, provide immunization and perform Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-waived screenings. In addition to these duties, pharmacy technicians are being utilized in more novel ways such as collecting medication information in primary care and telepharmacy settings. Conclusion: In order for pharmacy to continue to grow as a profession, pharmacists need to use pharmacy technicians as extenders. As pharmacy technicians begin to take on more of the technical duties, pharmacists are able to increase the time spent with patients.   Article Type: Commentary

scholarly journals Community Pharmacy Practice During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Perspective From the Middle East

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-114
Author(s):  
Saja H. Hamed
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Community Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Shed Light

ABSTRACT The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses serious challenges to pharmaceutical care services, and innovative responses by community pharmacists and regulatory bodies are needed. The experience in Jordan, located in the Middle East, is shared in this article in light of available international guidelines to provide insight into the efforts made by the pharmacists to safely maintain pharmaceutical services during the current pandemic. In addition, unique roles played by community pharmacists in other countries are discussed to shed light on the important role of community pharmacists in this outbreak.

scholarly journals Time and Motion Study of Influenza Diagnostic Testing in a Community Pharmacy

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Klepser ◽  
Allison Dering-Anderson ◽  
Jacqueline Morse ◽  
Michael Klepser ◽  
Stephanie Klepser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Clinical Laboratory ◽  
Vital Signs ◽  
Pharmacy Practice ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Pharmacy Technician ◽  
Time And Motion Study ◽  
Time And Motion ◽  
Motion Study ◽  
Time Required

Background: It has been shown that use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) is able to reduce costs and improve the prescribing practice of antivirals (i.e. oseltamivir) among patients with influenza-like illnesses (ILIs). Using existing Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA)-waived RDTs and collaborative practice agreements, similar to those used to allow pharmacists to administer vaccines, it is possible for patients to seek point-of-care treatment for influenza or flu-like symptoms at a local pharmacy. Following a review of the patient's symptoms by a trained pharmacist, the qualified patient is offered an RDT to determine if the influenza virus is the cause of the symptoms. Based on the results of the RDT, the patient is provided with the appropriate treatment as defined by an approved practice agreement. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of incorporating an RDT for influenza into community pharmacy practice. Methods: This time and motion study was conducted at three community pharmacy locations, and a total of eight simulated patient visits were completed utilizing a standardized patient. In addition to determining a total time of the encounter, each simulation was divided into nine timed sub-categories. For data analysis, the time spent in each of the nine sub-categories was assigned to the pharmacist, pharmacy technician, or patient. Time and motion methodologies were used to estimate the total time required to provide the RDT service, to determine the amount of active time required of the pharmacist and pharmacy technician, and to evaluate the ability of the staff to provide the service within its existing workflow. Results: The average total time to complete the entire patient encounter for an influenza assessment utilizing an RDT was 35.5 minutes (± 3.1 minutes). On average, the pharmacist spent 9.4 minutes (± 3 minutes) per encounter or about 26.5% of the entire encounter. When the pharmacy technician collected the vital signs, the pharmacist-required time was reduced to 4.95 minutes (± 2.7 minutes), which was about a 48% reduction. Conclusions: The results indicate that an RDT program for influenza assessment required no more than a modest amount of pharmacist time and could be successfully incorporated into regular workflow with little to no disruption of other activities. As such, this approach to influenza management may be a feasible service for community pharmacies to offer patients. This was especially true if the pharmacy had well-trained technicians on staff that could support the service with collection of patient histories and vital signs.   Type: Original Research

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