My practice site was a Walgreens pharmacy located in the Methodist Hospital at Sugar Land. This site was unique in comparison to other community pharmacy as it served as it serves as a specialty pharmacy, bedside delivery pharmacy, in addition to responsibilities of most traditional pharmacies. The specialty side of this practice provided an opportunity to work with physicians, patients, and insurances. This is because specialty drugs tend to be expensive and are usually not covered by insurance. In order to get the patients the specific medication they need, we must work with the patient and physician to justify the need for the medication to insurances through submission of prior authorizations. The bedside delivery component of this …show more content…
However, this medication was not covered on the patients plan and required us to submit a prior authorization form. This task required me to contact the patient’s dialysis center where I got to discuss with the patients nurse about lab values, medication history, and health conditions. I was then able to gather enough information to form an adequate justification for the patient’s use of Veltassa instead of Sodium Polystyrene Sulfonate, and began a prior authorization submission. After submitting the form to the insurance, I had to once again contact the nurse so that they could then verify and complete their portion of the prior authorization form through the web site Covermymeds.com. This encounter provided a great example of inter-professional teamwork as both parties got to understand more about each other’s role in health care. On the pharmacy side, the nurses got to see how pharmacists could help provide their insight on medications to find alternatives for patients with special circumstances. On the nurse’s side, the pharmacist can see how nurses play an important role in helping patients get the specific care needed even as the patient steps out of their workplace. An elderly patient once came to our pharmacy to pick up a medication that required injection administration. When the patient found out that the medication had to be taken using an injection, they explained that
Goal three by the National Patient Safety Goal for 2014 is to use medicines safely. Many errors occur regularly with medications which is why communication is so important with the doctors, nurses and patients. One process that Joint Commission requires in accredited HCO’s is medication reconciliation “creating the most accurate list possible off all medications a patient is taking, including drug name, dosage, frequency, and route, and comparing that list against the physician’s admission, transfer, and/or discharge orders with the goal of providing correct medications to the patients at all transition points within the hospital (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012, p. 388)”. Ensuring medication reconciliation to the patient, health providers and any new consults that are
Each year, roughly 1.5 million adverse drug events (ADEs) occur in acute and long-term care settings across America (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2006). An ADE is succinctly defined as actual or potential patient harm resulting from a medication error. To expound further, while ADEs may result from oversights related to prescribing or dispensing, 26-32% of all erroneous drug interventions occur during the nursing administration and monitoring phases (Anderson & Townsend, 2010). These mollifiable mishaps not only create a formidable financial burden for health care systems, they also carry the potential of imposing irreversible physiological impairment to patients and their families. In an effort to ameliorate cost inflation, undue detriment, and the potential for litigation, a multifactorial approach must be taken to improve patient outcomes. Key components in allaying drug-related errors from a nursing perspective include: implementing safety and quality measures, understanding the roles and responsibilities of the nurse, embracing technological safeguards, incorporating interdisciplinary collaborative efforts, and continued emphasis upon quality control.
Medication errors are the leading cause of morbidity and preventable death in hospitals (Adams). In fact, approximately 1.5 million Americans are injured each year as a result of medication errors in hospitals (Foote). Not only are medication errors harmful to patients but medication errors are very expensive for hospitals. Medication errors cost America’s health care system 3.5 billion dollars per year (Foote).Errors in medication administration occurs when one of the five rights of medication administration is omitted. The five rights are: a) the right dose, b) the right medication, c) the right patient, d) the right route of administration, and e) the right time of delivery (Adams). Medication administration is an essential part of
so that they can directly give patients medications instead of going through the pharmacy. This could be a big problem
Ms. Conlon applies the nursing process to systems or processes at the unit/team/work group level to improve care. Deirdre has been the primary nurse for 6 hemodialysis patients. She has involved patients and families in monthly interdisciplinary meetings to promote self-efficacy and quality of life. With the help of the interdisciplinary team Deirdre has worked collaboratively to address and reinforce nutritional needs, social/family issues, barriers to care, and safety concerns. All of her primary care patients have maintained a goal of 100% for dialysis adequacy (benchmark is 85%) and a vascular access rate of 100% and dictated by KDOQI standards.
Cetiner is the primary nurse for four dialysis patients. She tends to all of their complex needs as she strives to improve their outcomes. She delivers care in a manner that preserves patient autonomy, dignity and rights. This is evidenced by all four patients exceeding unit/network benchmarks in adequacy, access and anemia management. She became an advocate for a Veteran who lives in a nursing home and has no family, resulting in improvement of care. She diligently worked with one Veteran to avoid multiple hospital admission for fluid overload. She developed a treatment program along with the Medical Director to manage the patient’s fluid both during and after the hemodialysis treatment. She has provided much support to one of the Veterans with many socioeconomic issues ultimately affecting his treatment. Because of her due diligence with his non- compliance he now stays for his entire treatment on a regular basis
My third and final learning point is why it is important that there is a healthcare team. As I (Ivanova, 2014, b) said in the discussion board: “In order to improve the condition of the patient, it is really important all healthcare professionals work in a team.” This is relevant not only to the pharmacist but to all health care providers, because all of them have the same goal. Working in a team makes achieving that goal easier. Good communication decreases the chances of errors. Collaboration between professionals increases the awareness of each other’s skills and knowledge, which leads to an improvement in the health care service and decision-making. Teams are formed to create respect and trust between healthcare providers and also to prevent misunderstandings. The healthcare team should be centred on the patient and also making him feel better and improving his quality of life. Not having a team may result in serious errors and argues due to lack of communication. This is clearly not the point of the health care service. The interprofessional learning activity enabled us to understand the importance of having a team in healthcare and that coordination between all professionals is required in order to get the best effect from the treatment of the patient.
There are several types of medication, each has a purpose and function needed for their administration via the different routes.
Thank you Lord! I am very grateful to be able to successfully finish my third rotation at Walgreens pharmacy in Wellington, FL. My preceptor was Dr. Andrew Guvetis, a graduate from Nova Southern University and he has been working with Walgreens for a little over 2 years. During the first day, I noticed that this Walgreens was somewhat different from the others. It was designed like a wellness clinic where the pharmacist can spend some time during the day sitting on a desk right outside the pharmacy check-out counter and be accessible to answer any questions patients may have. It also had a big consultation room with comfy seating, a table including a sink and counter where a pharmacist can prepare immunizations or perform several screening tests. Walgreens offers health tests every day which help determine possible risks for heart disease or are looking for convenient ways to manage diabetes or high blood pressure. Some of the services offered include: cholesterol and blood pressure tests, body composition test and a comprehensive medication review. Test results are provided within minutes and it includes a pharmacist consultation as well.
Walgreens pharmacies are on the front lines of health care in America and serves as a centerpiece in improving patients’ overall health.
As a leader in the workplace, medication errors mostly occur when the workplace is understaffed with a patient load of full nursing cares that require more attention and care than patients who are independent. Due to being understaffed with a patient load of 13 to 2 nurses, medication errors occur more often as nurses are being rushed to finish all cares within their work timeframe. To decrease medication errors it is important to implement more staff during medication rounds, thus giving nurses additional time to concentrate and assure that the correct medication and dose is being given to the right patient ( ). The 6 medication rights are important to implement into every workplace as it decreases the chances of administrating medication to the wrong patients ( ). The medication right include; ______________________________________________________________ ( ). Medication errors have important implications for patient safety and in improving clinical practice errors to prevent any adverse events (
Knowing the importance of a strategic vision, every company undertakes a complete analysis periodically. In order to create a strategic plan the parties involved must know every aspect of the industry and the company at hand. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the retail drugstore industry and then focus on Walgreens, the industry leader in terms of sales. As part of the in-depth analysis of Walgreens, its major competitors will also be described and analyzed. The retail drugstore industry consists of all those stores that contain a pharmacy and sell prescription drugs. It also includes businesses that sell prescription drugs online and through the mail. Most retail drugstores also offer other
A physician could make mistakes in prescribing, the pharmacy could send the wrong medication, but who actually gave it to the patient is accountable for the consequences. For this reason, it’s our responsibility to implement change in our practice based on the evidence in order to ensure safe patient care.
After the interview with my nurse manager, I came up with the PICO question which states: “Does the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system reduce the number of medication errors compared to the common paper system being used today?” This question is important and I selected it because the population that the Belvoir Community hospital serves includes army officers of all ages both active and retired including their spouses and children. This group includes two sub groups of highly vulnerable persons which include the very young and the very old, who have a high-risk effect for medication errors because the potential adverse drug event is three times greater than an adult hospitalized patient (Levine et al., 2001). CPOE is not a panacea, but it does represent an effective tool for bringing real-time, evidence-based decision support to physicians. Nurses are the last defense level of protection against medication errors, and are solely responsible for the dispensing, administering, and monitoring of medications. In healthcare, computers can be used to help facilitate clear and accurate communication between health care professionals. When using a CPOE system it allows physicians to type in prescriptions right into the device or computer which significantly lessens any mistakes that can occur when
extensive lead time to schedule meetings and review data with insurers—data that had to be