Pharmacist domiciliary visiting in England: identifying the characteristics associated with continuation

Abstract

Most PDVSs had numerous characteristics in common however no two PDVSs were identical. Characteristics involved in the creation of service demand such as number and type of referral sources, are more likely to be associated with PDVS continuation.

Current perspectives on pharmacist home visits: do we keep reinventing the wheel?

“…A downside of HV services being offered from a community pharmacy can be limited time to conduct HVs and lack of funding. 65 , 66 , 68 …”

“…Several authors described pharmacists providing HV services with other health care providers: paramedics, 74 nurses, 28 , 42 social workers, 84 multidisciplinary teams, 36 , 48 , 68 , 77 , 81 and with a nurse practitioner and primary care physician. 21 , 40 , 85 Co-visiting patients with other health care providers is not only an opportunity to strengthen the team relationships but can enhance collaboration at the point of patient care through the opportunity for complementary skill sets.…”

“…Another important aspect of relationship and collaboration is referral. Receiving referrals from a physician may not only impact the longevity of a HV program, 68 but also may result in more collaboration for making medication changes through case conferences. 15 , 53 , 71 However, receiving referrals for a pharmacist HV intervention may not occur, despite being recommended.…”

“…A similar survey undertaken among British pharmacists received 247 respondents (81.5% response rate). 68 The authors reported that 74% of respondents had specific but undefined training, and 81% of the services were funded through Primary Care Trusts. HV services operational beyond a year were those that included social services, GPs, and community nurses in the service protocol of operations and those that received more of their referrals from GPs (90% vs 50%).…”

Can community pharmacy successfully bridge the gap in care for housebound patients?

“…Domiciliary Medicine Use Reviews (dMURs) are a means of reaching a group of patients who would otherwise be unable to benefit from an MUR at their community pharmacy or through a telephone review. Although the need for domiciliary reviews was originally addressed in the early 2000s through the Pharmacist Domiciliary Visiting Services (PDVS), [2,3], it has been the success of the dMUR pilot in Croydon during 2011/2012 [4,5], that encouraged the provision of similar services such as those in West Yorkshire [6], North Wales [7], Exeter [8,9], and the London boroughs of Wandsworth [10] and Lewisham [11]. The latter scheme, Lewisham Integrated Medicines Optimisation Service (LIMOS), supports high-risk patients with referrals from both primary and secondary care, encouraging the involvement of all stakeholders in patient care.…”