The Future of Independent Pharmacy: Enhancing Patient Care
The success of your independent pharmacy depends on improving the patient experience and patient care in today’s value-based care environment.
Now is the time to examine your processes and offerings to understand what your pharmacy can do to better care for patients.
Hence, many pharmacists realize that in the future, their role will be more focused on the patient rather than the product. It can be predicted that their attention will shift from dispensing to providing suitable clinical care.
1. Engage patients with technology
In modern times, to remain competitive and useful to patients, your independent pharmacy needs to adapt to new technology.
The following services will help your pharmacy succeed by upgrading to today’s technology:
- The ability to fill prescriptions on the go with a mobile app
- Online ordering for same or next-day home delivery
- Remind patients to take their medication or to renew their prescriptions via text message
Some patients may benefit from text reminders when their prescriptions are ready. Meanwhile, others might prefer email.
Healthcare services are rapidly changing due to technology. Patients can often access their dispensing records online through many pharmacies to order prescriptions and have them delivered to their homes.
2. Focus on providing individualized care to patients
These day, patient tend to want more individualized and specific care because they want our attention and want us to remember their faces when visit the pharmacy.
From that, they know we are providing our best services to them.
- Ease patient experience
Frankly, patients want their pharmacy experience to be more convenient and practical. Besides that, they want transactions to be seamless every time come to the pharmacy.
Mostly, they don’t like to repeat so many times and like when pharmacy staff remembers who they are and do not have to explain things multiple times to different people.
- Feeling cared for
Patients want to feel appreciated when they visit your pharmacy. In order to be in good hands, he wants to make sure that they have everything they need to take their medication safely without any obstacles.
For instance, an arthritis patient should not receive hard-to-open medication packaging. Because elderly patients who are unable to open medicine containers do not receive help with their medication.
- Help achieve their health goals
Health goals are usually set by patients themselves. Patient want pharmacists not just to hand them their prescriptions but help them to keep as healthy as possible by understanding their overall health.
In addition to recommending healthy lifestyles, pharmacists can counsel patients on nutrition to control their disease.
3. The pharmacy offers more health services
- Vaccine programs
Every pharmacy should be able to offer vaccine programs including flu shots, travel vaccines for overseas travelers, and year-round immunizations against diseases such as pneumonia and shingles.
Immunization program services ensure immunity and protect people against harmful diseases.
- Point-of-care testing (POCT)
Point-of-care testing, also known as near-patient testing, means carrying out a test using a device or test kit in the presence of the patient and without need to send a sample to a laboratory.
This includes such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high blood sugar.
- Health education
The pharmacist, as the last health professional to come into contact with the patient, plays a vital role in patient education on drug use. They need more information about their medicines to manage their health.
With additional services offered by your independent pharmacy, you become their primary source for more than just refilling medication.
4. Catching up on patient care
Catching up on patient care is one of the most meaningful things you can do is always address and keep in touch with the patient.
For example, a situation where patients are not on the correct medication.
Perhaps they are not taking their medicine properly or they might be prescribed a medication that can interact with another medicine.
- Use Technology
A pharmacy management system should set remind and alert for patients who may not be taking their medication or may need a new drug by sending a text message.
- Clinical programs
Consider a clinical program such as drug therapy management or face-to-face counselling with them.
By doing so, you will get a better understanding of a patient’s concerns or questions, allowing you to provide advice to them.
- Prescriber partnerships
Partnering with prescribers ensures you to able communicate openly about the success of medication treatments and patient needs.
When pharmacy focus more on providing better patient care, such as point-of-care testing, counseling patients on their medications, or simply remembering their care needs.
They will rely on you as a resource for their entire health journey not just their prescriptions and your pharmacy can lead to success now and in the future with patient satisfaction.
About the author
Raihan Ridzuan
Bachelor of Science (Hons) Pharmacology, is a Customer Relationship Executive of Mayflax, one of the nation’s leading healthcare and marketing companies.