First patient counseling centre of country at KEM serves drug compliance needs of 4,000 patients in 2 years

Credited to be the first and only counselling centre in the country to cater to diabetic patients, the patient counselling centre (PCC) at KEM Hospital, Mumbai has served the drug compliance requirements of nearly 4,000 patients in two years time. Started in January 2015 in line with Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 based on the mandate of rationale usage of drugs, the centre at KEM Hospital, Mumbai is all set to expand its services in other specialties in the near future.  Close to serving the drug compliance requirements of around 1,500 new patients in the past few months, PCC at KEM Hospital is also offering services in the specialty of epilepsy based on its mandate towards rationale usage of drugs. The Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 came into effect in January 2015. This comes at a time when pharmacists across India are celebrating 56th National Pharmacy Week to highlight their role in society. The counseling centre is a step forward to explain the brighter and darker sides of medicines dispensed by the pharmacist to ensure rational use of medicines and save mankind from the menace of modern medicine. Says Sheetal Chandan, pharmacist and co-ordinator at the centre, "Pharmacists ought to utilise their expertise to effectively communicate every aspect of the medicine to the patients and their care providers.”   Aimed at delivering clinically important, relevant and unbiased information on medicines to patients, KEM Hospital and Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) had jointly set up the first of its kind PCC in Maharashtra in January last year to help patients get the know-how about rational usage of scheduled drugs with help from a dedicated pharmacist. The centre caters to patients per day from Monday to Saturday between 9 am to 4 pm. “The side effects of prescription medicines are detrimental to patient health in the long run. Interaction of one medicine  with another, as also interaction of medicines with food and drink or beverage poses potential danger to health and at times to life. These are the specific areas on which patient or their care provider must get adequate authentic details to devise ways to prevent any damage to health. Pharmacists must attain expertise on specific pharmacological and therapeutic class of medicines to authoritatively detail about such medicines,” Chandan explains. Based on the collaboration, MSPC has deputed a pharmacist at KEM Hospital to help patients get the knowledge on medical prescription, adverse drug reactions, drug usage, dosage, schedule, drug-drug interaction and contraindications for better therapeutic outcomes.  As per the system, patient submits the stamped prescription of the physician at the counseling centre. After registering the patient's records, the pharmacist deputed at the centre accordingly counsels  the patient on drug usage with help from a Micromedex database on medicines. The centre is equipped with a robust evidence based clinical reference software called Micromedex which is user-friendly and makes available evidence-based drug information and clinical answers much faster and easier. The pharmacist at the centre educates the patient about drug use and aspects like drug-drug reaction, drug-food reaction and other contra-indications.

Source: Pharmabiz.com http://www.pharmabiz.com/NewsDetails.aspx?aid=105681&sid=1