15th March 2019
MPharm, MSc Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmacist prescriber
Identifying key members of practice staff that can be crucial in supporting my role or in setting up a new clinic.
Aim to be an integral member of the practice, understand who key influencers in your practice are. I have found that it is often members of staff such as Health care assistants who are invaluable in supporting the setup of new clinics.
Demonstrating my impact in setting up a new service. This information is vital for practices to see the benefit of my role as a GP pharmacist.
Ensure that baseline data is collected before any new service or change in practice is implemented and show the impact of the new clinic after a few months.
A particular area that I am focussing on at the moment is how I can make the repeat medication re-authorisation process more efficient, by forging close working relationships with the prescription clerks in practices. As pharmacist our skills are well suited to support this process whether dealing with queries and subsequently identifying patients that need to come in for a review. These activities will ultimately improve patient safety, outcomes and reduce workload on GPs.
I have been recording all activities that I have been involved with that require medication optimisation that will generate revenue for the practice such local enhanced services and QOF work. Additionally I record the medication related queries that I deal with as GP time freed.
I have come to realise that that Type II diabetes is a condition that some of the practices could benefit from further support in optimising patient’s treatment. I am aiming to upskill in this field through attending training events and spending time with the specialist endocrinology pharmacist and the diabetic specialist nurses.
It is important to identify opportunities to improve patient safety and to maximise treatments in long term condition management. Build confidence in a particular disease area and this will lead to further projects.
I have been very impressed with the i2i methodology where workshops are presented by experts in the field who understand the challenges of general practice. Delegates leave the event equipped with online tools and the knowledge to develop a clinic or service, which is what adds the most value to the delegates to enable them to implement their learning back in their practices. I have not seen this in any other training event that I have attended.
… the intricacies of the GP QOF when I first started!