The Establishment and Practice of Pharmacy Care Service Based on Internet Social Media: Telemedicine in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: For patients with chronic diseases requiring long-term use of medications who are quarantined at home, the management of medication therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic is a problem that pharmacists urgently need to discuss and solve. The study aims to establish and launch a telepharmacy framework to implement pharmaceutical care during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: To establish a remote pharmacy service model based on a medication consultation service platform under the official account of the “Beijing Pharmacists Association” on the social software WeChat app, obtain the medication consultation records from February 28 to April 27, 2020, during the worst period of the epidemic in China, and to perform a statistical analysis of the information about the patients seeking consultation, consultation process, content and follow-up results.Results: The medication consultation service system and telepharmacy service model based on social software were established in February 2020. The “Cloud Pharmacy Care” platform had 1,432 views and 66 followers and completed 39 counseling cases in 2 months. Counseling was available for patients of all ages. Of the 39 cases, 82.05% of patients were young and middle-aged. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the long-term medication usage problems of patients with chronic disease were effectively addressed using “Cloud Pharmacy Care”. In the consultation, 35 cases (89.7%) were related to the use of medicines or health products, and 4 cases (10.3%) involved disease state management and the use of supplements. The top five drug-related issues included the selection of medications, the dosage and usage of drugs, medications for special populations, medication therapy management of chronic diseases, and adverse drug reactions. All consultations were completed within 4 h, with a positive review rate of 97.4%.Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, a remote pharmacy service “Cloud Pharmacy Care” based on the social software WeChat app was quickly constructed and applied to solve the medication-related problems of patients and the public during home quarantining. The significance of the study lies in the timely and interactive consultation model helps to carry out medication therapy management for chronically ill patients and improves patients’ medication compliance, improves medical quality, and plays a positive role in promoting the popularization of safe medication knowledge.

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The Establishment and Practice of Pharmacy Care Service Based on Internet Social Media: Telemedicine in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.23915 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Huibo Li ◽

Da Li ◽

Dechun Jiang ◽

Siqian Zheng ◽

Fang Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chronic Diseases ◽

Medication Therapy Management ◽

Pharmacy Service ◽

Social Software ◽

Service Model ◽

Consultation Service ◽

Therapy Management ◽

Medication Therapy ◽

The Social

BACKGROUND For patients with chronic diseases requiring long-term use of medications who are quarantined at home, the management of medication therapy during the COVID-19 epidemic is a problem that pharmacists urgently need to discuss and solve. OBJECTIVE To establish an online pharmacy consulting service model and to launch the application of tele-pharmacy services during the COVID-19 epidemic. METHODS To establish a remote pharmaceutical service model based on a medication consultation service platform under the official account of the "Beijing Pharmacists Association" on the social software WeChat app, obtain the medication consultation records from February 28 to March 27, 2020, and perform a statistical analysis of the information about the patients seeking consultation, consultation process, content and follow-up results. RESULTS The medication consultation service system and tele-pharmacy service model based on social software were established in February 2020. The "Cloud Pharmacy Care" platform had 915 views and 43 followers and completed 13 counselling cases in the first month. Counselling was available for patients of all ages; of the 13 cases, 61.54% of patients were young and middle-aged. During the COVID-19 epidemic, the long-term medication usage problems of patients with chronic disease were effectively addressed using "Cloud Pharmacy Care". In the consultation, 11 cases (84.6%) were related to the use of medicines or health products, and 2 cases (15.4%) involved disease state management and the use of supplements. The top five drug-related issues included the dosage of drugs, medication therapy management of chronic diseases, the selection of medications, adverse drug reactions and medications for special populations. All consultations were completed within 4 hours, with a positive review rate of 91.7%. CONCLUSIONS During the COVID-19 epidemic, a remote pharmacy service "Cloud Pharmacy Care" based on the social software WeChat app was quickly constructed and applied to solve the medication-related problems of patients and the public during home quarantining. This timely and interactive consultation mode helps to carry out medication therapy management for chronically ill patients and improves patients' medication compliance, improves medical quality and plays a positive role in promoting the popularization of safe medication knowledge.

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Physicians’ Preferences for Communication of Pharmacist-Provided Medication Therapy Management in Community Pharmacy

Journal of Pharmacy Practice ◽

10.1177/0897190015585764 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 17-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Kendall D. Guthrie ◽

Steven C. Stoner ◽

D. Matthew Hartwig ◽

Justin R. May ◽

Sara E. Nicolaus ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Pharmacy ◽

Medication Therapy Management ◽

Survey Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Term Care ◽

Prospective Survey ◽

Therapy Management ◽

Medication Therapy ◽

Communication Practices

Objectives: (1) To identify physicians’ preferences in regard to pharmacist-provided medication therapy management (MTM) communication in the community pharmacy setting; (2) to identify physicians’ perceived barriers to communicating with a pharmacist regarding MTM; and (3) to determine whether Missouri physicians feel MTM is beneficial for their patients. Methods: A cross-sectional prospective survey study of 2021 family and general practice physicians registered with MO HealthNet, Missouri’s Medicaid program. Results: The majority (52.8%) of physicians preferred MTM data to be communicated via fax. Most physicians who provided care to patients in long-term care (LTC) facilities (81.0%) preferred to be contacted at their practice location as opposed to the LTC facility. The greatest barriers to communication were lack of time and inefficient communication practices. Improved/enhanced communication was the most common suggestion for improvement in the MTM process. Approximately 67% of respondents reported MTM as beneficial or somewhat beneficial for their patients. Conclusions: Survey respondents saw value in the MTM services offered by pharmacists. However, pharmacists should use the identified preferences and barriers to improve their currently utilized communication practices in hopes of increasing acceptance of recommendations. Ultimately, this may assist MTM providers in working collaboratively with patients’ physicians.

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