‘Hitting the Wall’: A pharmacist’s guide to beginning classes

As a practicing pharmacist myself, I began offering diabetes classes at an independent pharmacy in Augusta, GA, around 2005.  We tried different times of the day and different days of the week in effort to find the best time that would grab the most patients.  Unfortunately, I began with one patient during our first class.  Instead of being discouraged, however, I began to use my influence as a pharmacist to grow the classes.  While I had only meager success the first few classes (even one month in which no one showed up), we began to quickly grow approximately 6 to 9 months after our first class.

Believe me…I was ready to give up after just a few months of meager success.  It reminds me of a common expression that long distance runners use:  ‘hitting the wall.’  If you’re a runner like myself, you know that almost every runner experiences a time during their run in which they become tired and are ready to give up.  However, runners who work through this time eventually feel much more rejuvenated and are able to complete the course.  This same principle can be easily applied to pharmacists attempting to launch the Sweet Spot program in their store(s).  Pharmacists who push through the time of ‘hitting the wall’ usually experience great success down the line.

I have several thoughts on why pharmacies working through early struggles tend to be more successful, but I believe it ultimately boils down to patients and physicians seeing consistency in the program.  Physicians, for example, weren’t willing to forward patients to our class until they saw consistency in our program.  One physician remarked, ‘I just assumed you were having a few ‘Diabetes Days,’ but I realized you actually have a great service you can provide to my diabetes patients on a consistent basis.

If you’re currently ‘hitting the wall,’ be encouraged!  Keep your classes consistent.  Let your area physicians know you don’t plan on quitting any time soon.  If you’re ‘hitting the wall,’ be sure let us know…we’re full of ideas to break through the wall!’

David D. Pope, PharmD, CDE

Editor-in-Chief, CreativePharmacist.com

 

David can be contacted at david@CreativePharmacist.com, or 706.210.9087

Antidepressant Drug Compliance: Reduced Risk of MI and Mortality in Depressed Patients

Summary by Annie Isaac, UGA PharmD Candidate (’12), Jason M. VanLandingham, PharmD, BCPS

Depression is associated with an increased risk for coronary heart disease in healthy patients and cardiac morbidity and mortality in patients with coronary heart disease.   However, little research has been done to determine the role antidepressants play in this risk.    This study was conducted among patients with a diagnosis of depression, to determine the long term risk of myocardial infarction (MI) in patients who have taken antidepressants compared with those who have not.

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CreativePharmacist.com and HealthyHeartClub.com in the Washington Post

CreativePharmacist.com and HealthyHeartClub.com was highlighted in the Washington Post! Click here for the link. The article was also syndicated in the LA Times, MSNBC.com, and countless other sites.  The article highlights David Pope, PharmD, CDE, Editor-in-Chief of CreativePharmacist.com as well as one of our members, Theresa Tolle, of Bay Street Pharmacy.  This is an awesome opportunity to show the power of a pharmacist to the world!  If you have a story about a time when you stepped ‘beyond the prescription counter’ to assist a patient with their chronic disease, let us know!

Introducing the HealthyHeartClub.com

We’ve been busy at CreativePharmacist.com!  For many years, we have attempted to assist our patients at the pharmacy in losing weight, lowering blood pressure, and improving cholesterol.  In doing so, we’ve always been able to offer the education and information needed to assist our patients in reaching their health goals, but we’ve been unable to provide the ‘healthy accountability’ that we all need to succeed….until now.  Check out our new program for pharmacists,www.HealthyHeartClub.com, and let us know what you think!  Also, tell us how you are assisting your patients in losing weight, lowering blood pressure, or improving cholesterol in your practice!

CreativePharmacist.com in the NY Times

Just in case you haven’t seen it yet, CreativePharmacist.com was featured on the cover of the NY Times in August 2010.  It is exciting to see how pharmacists are showing how you can operate ‘clinical pharmacy’ in the retail setting!  I’d love to hear your thoughts on the article.  Also, what clinical services are you offering in your practice?

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/health/14pharmacist.html?_r=1

The Law or The Patient

An interesting situation happened to me a few weeks ago that truly highlights a strong debate within the profession.  It was Saturday, and I was staffing the pharmacy by myself.  A lady came in with a prescription from a surgeon at Vanderbilt’s plastic surgery department for her 16-year-old daughter for oxycodone IR, to be taken 30 minutes prior to wound dressing changes, and Morphine Sulfate IR, written with a tapering-down dosing regiment with quite a wide window between even the first doses (1Q8h for two days, 1Q12h for two days, then 1Qd for two or three before discontinuing).  While I initially questioned the MS IR prescription’s dose, my concern increased because, none to my surprise with the child being on Medicaid, they didn’t pay for the MS IR as it was a second immediate-release narcotic medication after the oxycodone.  Continue reading

Daily aspirin in diabetes patients: Who do I recommend it to again???

Recently, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) published their updated Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes document and one of the major changes this year was in regards to aspirin recommendations in primary prevention patients (patients who have no prior history of cardiovascular disease such as heart attack or stroke).  If you’ve heard about this change or been asked about it by your patients, you might be feeling a little confused or uncomfortable with the information.  It was quite a shift from what we had been recommending! Continue reading

“Clinical Pharmacy” in the Community Setting

A quick Google search of the phrase “Clinical Pharmacy” led me to Wikipedia’s definition which states “Clinical Pharmacy is the branch of pharmacy where pharmacists and pharmaconomists provide patient care that optimizes the use of medication and promotes health, wellness, and disease prevention.”  I work at D-REX Pharmacy in Jonesville, NC where my title is “Director of Clinical Pharmacy Services” and my lab coat reads “Clinical Pharmacist.”  Continue reading

What’s the Point?

The role of most healthcare practitioners, viewed by both the public and the professionals themselves, is to make patients well.  We go see physicians for a variety of reasons.  Hopefully we’re going in for annual check-ups to make sure were are staying healthy, but oftentimes we see them because something ails us and we want to get better.  In a pinch, we’ll go to a walk-in clinic to seek relief for an infection or a sprained joint.  Continue reading