Implementation of virtual clinical pharmacy services by incorporating medical professionals and pharmacy students: A novel patient-oriented system to advance healthcare in India

Explor Res Clin Soc Pharm. 2022 Mar 17:5:100126. doi: 10.1016/j.rcsop.2022.100126. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Abstract

The healthcare sector is continuously evolving in pace to meet the medical needs of the society. Even though therapeutic reforms are happening, medication discrepancies are the prime cause of hospitalization. This has generated an invincible demand for clinical pharmacy services. Accordingly, a program that collaborates the clinical preceptor and students of department of pharmacy practice with the hospital's medical team, has been established. Any individual who has doubts on medicines can inquire through Dr MED, a virtual clinical pharmacy platform. The operating procedure of the program is presented in the article, where the program's coordinator and the pharmacy students play a significant role in sorting out the queries and finding out the evidences. On the other hand, the medical team composed of physicians and clinical pharmacists acts as a supporting component. Finally, the decision on how and what to respond to the inquirer is upon the opinions put forward by the medical team. Moreover, the system also addresses all the clinical concerns confined to medicines that ultimately enhances the patient's treatment outcome.

Keywords: Clinical pharmacy services; Clinical reasoning; Information technology; Medical staff; Native peoples; Pharmacy students.