Over the past few months, our pharmacists and technicians have been providing more direct patient care to patients in our pharmacy through Flip the Pharmacy as well as an innovative hypertension pilot study. Through these initiatives, we have helped identify opportunities to improve health outcomes and made several recommendations to optimize medication regimens.
One preeminent example of this care occurred during the course of blood pressure measurement. We taught a patient to measure their blood pressure, provided them with a home blood pressure log, and followed-up with the patient after two weeks to check the readings. At that time, we identified a need to refer the patient to our local ER for hypertensive urgency. After this, we were able to more closely follow the patient and make further recommendations to increase their antihypertensive regimen. As a result of providing higher quality care, the patient now has controlled blood pressure, we have helped our provider colleagues improve health outcomes in our community, and we have improved our relationship with this patient.
This is one of many examples of positive patient impact through community pharmacists providing more clinical services. We are grateful to be able to share our experiences and would look forward to hearing about yours!