Community pharmacy: an untapped patient data resource

Abstract

As community pharmacy services become more patient centered, they will be increasingly reliant on access to good quality patient information. This review describes how the information that is currently available in community pharmacies can be used to enhance service delivery and patient care. With integration of community pharmacy and medical practice records on the horizon, the opportunities this will provide are also considered. The community pharmacy held patient medication record, which is the central information repository and has been used to identify non-adherence, prompts the pharmacist to clinically review prescriptions, identify patients for additional services, and identify those patients at greater risk of adverse drug events. While active recording of patient consultations for treatment over the counter may improve the quality of consultations and information held, the lost benefits of anonymity afforded by community pharmacies need to be considered. Recording of pharmacy staff activities enables the workload to be monitored, remuneration to be justified, critical incidents to be learned from, but is not routine practice. Centralization of records between community pharmacies enables practices to be compared and consistent problems to be identified. By integrating pharmacy and medical practice records, patient behavior with respect to medicines can be more closely monitored and should prevent duplication of effort. When using patient information stored in a community pharmacy, it is, however, important to consider the reason why the information was recorded in the first instance and whether it is appropriate to use it for a different purpose without additional patient consent. Currently, community pharmacies have access to large amounts of information, which, if stored and used appropriately, can significantly enhance the quality of provided services and patient care. Integrating the records increases opportunities to enhance patient care yet further. While community pharmacies have significant amounts of information available to them, this is frequently untapped.

Linkage of primary care prescribing records and pharmacy dispensing Records in the Salford Lung Study: application in asthma

“…Medication data can be used in research to assess changes in medication prescribing trends over time [ 1 ], for pharmacovigilance studies, and to investigate patients not adhering to the treatment plans agreed upon with their General Practitioner (GP) [ 2 – 4 ]. Investigating medication data enables researchers to estimate the frequency, burden, and costs of non-adherence [ 5 – 7 ], identify the most at-risk to suboptimal clinical outcomes, evaluate the effectiveness of adherence interventions [ 8 – 10 ], and appropriately adjust for the impact of non-adherence on safety and efficacy data in clinical trials [ 11 , 12 ].…”

“…While analysis of medication adherence can be estimated using either the GP’s prescribing records or the NHSBSA medication dispensing records alone, there are limitations to each approach. Without linking the records together, it is not possible to ascertain whether a prescribed medication was collected, or to rule out other reasons for irregularities in collection such as treatment conclusion or sanctioned treatment interruptions [ 1 , 23 , 24 ].…”

Training and Toolkit Resources to Support Implementation of a Community Pharmacy Fall Prevention Service

“…With rising prescription medication use, polypharmacy, and patients receiving care from numerous providers [11,12], there is a distinct need for the expertise of a pharmacist to help manage medication-related fall risk. Due to their access to patients and medication records [13], community pharmacists are ideally positioned to partner with providers, payers, and public health stakeholders to reduce the risk of falls through screening, medication management, and referral.…”

Clinical Pharmacy Activities Documented (ClinPhADoc): Development, Reliability and Acceptability of a Documentation Tool for Community Pharmacists

“…It has been recommended that pharmacists document any professional activities that are intended to ensure the safe and effective use of drugs and that may affect patient outcomes [7]. However, documentation of clinical activities still remains a challenge [6], particularly in community pharmacies [8].…”