Pharmacists and clinicians may have the opportunity to expand the service offerings in their pharmacy or clinic. It is an exciting time for innovation, with hurdles along the way.
In this issue, the feature article focuses on mental health. Megan Snodgrass, PharmD, and Tripp Logan, PharmD, discuss the importance of improving care for mental illness, and share steps they have taken to incorporate mental health services into their practices. “To better understand and be able to discuss the needs of patients with mental health conditions and providers, our pharmacies have embarked on a mission to have our pharmacists and staff members become more educated on mental illnesses and mental health issues,” they explained (see “Improving Mental Illness Treatment in the Community Pharmacy: It All Starts with Communication”).
Expanding service offerings is an exciting opportunity for pharmacists. Once these services are set in place, it is important to maintain these programs with the latest information available. In the second part of our series on influenza readiness, Gregory Juckett, MD, discusses the best influenza vaccines to give patients. In particular, he discusses trivalent and quadrivalent vaccines, the difference between live attenuated and inactivated vaccines, and provides egg-free vaccine options (see “Influenza Vaccinations: Which Vaccine Is Best for Your Patient?”). In the same vein, we have included clinical updates on the latest human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) guidelines. “The future of HIV antiretrovirals may be shifting from creating new medications to improving those currently available through boosting and combining,” stated Rachael Edeburn, PharmDc. “Hopefully these innovations, along with the US Department of Health & Human Services Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and Adolescents’ guideline updates, will help lower the pill burden and improve patient adherence and outcomes” (see “HIV Treatment Guideline Updates”).
In this issue, we have also included practical information for running your pharmacies and clinics, including a business article on what employers should do when dealing with violations of ethical or legal standards in the workplace (see “Tattletale or Whistleblower: What’s an Employer to Do?”). In a follow-up article, you will find financial advice, with 7 tips for picking the right financial adviser.
We hope you will enjoy reading this issue of Inside Patient Care. Contact us if you or your colleagues have any questions about the articles published this month, or if you would like to share your experiences with implementing service offerings in your community pharmacy or clinic.
