Authors (including presenting author) :
WONG PK, Bryan (1); ZHENG SM, Michelle (1); CHAN KY, Katie (1); CHAN CY, Amy (1); NG YT, Meyone (2); CHUI CM, William (1)
Affiliation :
(1)Department of Pharmacy, Queen Mary Hospital
(2)The Pharmacy of Aberdeen Kai-fong Welfare Association Limited
Introduction :
During COVID-19 endemic, hospital services were overwhelmed with acute infectious disease management that patients with stable chronic disease were more reluctant to go back to the hospital for scheduled follow-ups and medication refills. As such, a shared care model of Medication Delivery Service is piloted to continue the drug therapy of patients. The Pharmacy of Aberdeen Kai-fong Welfare Association Limited (AKA) is Non-Governmental-Organization-operated, which proposed the Service in collaborating with the Department of Pharmacy of Queen Mary Hospital. This service facilitates patients with stable chronic medical condition to get medication refills and to receive drug counselling by AKA Pharmacist at AKA Community Pharmacy.
Objectives :
The objectives of the programme include advocating the concept of shared care, enhancing the quality of pharmaceutical care, and reducing the burden on overloaded healthcare services.
Methodology :
The target beneficiaries are stable patients with chronic diseases, who are under follow-up in the Specialist Outpatient Clinic (SOPC) of QMH. Patients would have to complete a registration form, sign the consent form and contact the respective clinic for agreement. Patients would need to register for eHealth and HA Go for order verification and pharmacist follow-up. Patients could either choose home delivery service or pick up at AKA Pharmacy for the refilled medication.
After verifying the prescription, QMH Pharmacist would pick up the prescription from SOPC and dispense the medications. Courier would collect medications from the QMH Pharmacy and deliver them to the AKA Pharmacy. The AKA Pharmacist would provide Telepharmacy (Drug Counselling) to patients through video conference after drug delivery is completed and they would discuss with QMH Pharmacist for further follow-up action if needed. The AKA Pharmacist would follow up with patients at 4-8 weeks after drug collection for patients in need.
Result & Outcome :
There are more than 150 patients receiving the service. The benefits of the proposed drug collection services include reducing the burden on hospital services, utilizing primary care resources for shared care. Community Pharmacists could also solve drug-related problems. More importantly, it proves the concept of collaboration between primary care and public healthcare in pharmaceutical services in Hong Kong.
