The ADAPT online education program: A tool for practicing pharmacists delivering patient-centered care.

OBJECTIVES: The ADapting pharmacists' skills and Approaches to maximize Patient's drug Therapy effectiveness (ADAPT) e-learning program was developed by a consortium of Canadian pharmacy educators and researchers to prepare practicing pharmacists for patient-centered care. We selected this education program to provide training for pharmacists as the workforce transformation component of a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation project. In this report we share our experiences with this educational program. SETTING: Online educational program. PRACTICE DESCRIPTION: ADAPT presents a standard approach to medication assessment, team collaboration, patient assessment, evidence-based decision making, and documentation. PRACTICE INNOVATIONS: ADAPT was used to prepare practicing pharmacists for new roles in direct patient care in patient-centered medical homes. EVALUATION: Participants were surveyed at the midpoint and end of the program to determine its impact on their confidence in providing patient-centered care and to elicit feedback about their perceptions of the program. Participants completed written action plans for each module that included their reflections on the course material and the skills they desired to implement in practice. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze Likert-type questions, and a content analysis was performed to analyze responses to open-ended questions and action plan responses. RESULTS: Two pharmacist cohorts completed the 20-week program from October 2012 to March 2013 (n = 13) and from August 2013 to January 2014 (n = 10). Pharmacists' perceived that their confidence in providing patient-centered care improved for all modules. Almost all pharmacists reported improved confidence in patient interviewing (89%), documentation (88%), and collaboration skills (83%). The content analysis identified the modules on interviewing and documentation as the most valuable and likely to result in changes to the pharmacists' practice. The opportunity to learn from colleagues was cited as a strength of the program. CONCLUSION: The ADAPT educational program provided pharmacists with the tools necessary to deliver patient-centered care in ambulatory care settings.

Development and Implementation of Clinical Pharmacist Services Within an Integrated Medical Group.

BACKGROUND: In 2012, pharmacists were integrated into a medical group to provide direct patient care, drug information activities, and health care provider education. The medical group encompasses 40 primary care and 60 specialty offices in Virginia. OBJECTIVE: To describe the development and implementation of clinical pharmacist services integrated within a medical group. METHODS: Pharmacists' roles and responsibilities, type and number of patient encounters, and identification of strategies to facilitate implementation are described. RESULTS: From June 2012 to December 2014, pharmacists had 809 patient encounters, which included patient-centered education, medication consults, Medicare annual wellness visits, senior care visits, and comprehensive medication reviews. Pharmacists addressed 403 drug information requests from nurse navigators, providers, and administrators. Pharmacists also have roles in risk management, quality improvement initiatives, and operations that benefit the medical group. Strategies to facilitate implementation include working with organizational leadership, identifying a physician champion, and establishing credibility by being responsive to practice needs and responding to requests in a timely manner to build trust within the health care team. CONCLUSION: Integration of pharmacists within health care teams involves more than direct patient care activities. Pharmacists should be involved at the organizational level to have a broader impact on patient and practice levels.

Satisfaction With Medication Therapy Management Services at a University Ambulatory Care Clinic.

A survey was issued to patients enrolled in the Medication Therapy Management Clinic (MTMC) at University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences (June 2011-January 2012) in order to assess satisfaction with pharmacy services provided by pharmacists. A 23-item survey was offered to 65 patients in the MTMC program before or after clinic visits. Since there is a paucity of data indicating the level of satisfaction with MTM services provided by pharmacists, this survey may contribute to the process of building a greater collaboration between the pharmacist and patient. Sixty-two of 65 patients completed the survey; satisfaction with MTMC pharmacists was demonstrated to be significantly positively correlated with overall satisfaction with the MTMC. Patient satisfaction is not significantly different according to age, gender, ethnicity, or number of disease states. Satisfaction with the pillbox service is not significantly different between younger and older patients. It was also noted that patients taking a greater number of medications had higher levels of satisfaction. Most patients indicated that they were satisfied with the MTMC pharmacists and services; further study linking patient satisfaction with MTM services to improved patient outcomes may allow our MTMC to serve as a model for other pharmacist-managed MTMCs serving similar patient populations.