Telepharmacy by Shubham Kanaujiya

1. TELEPHARMACY
PRESENTED BY:
SHUBHAM KANAUJIYA
M.PHARM 1ST YEAR PHARMACEUTICS
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES
GUIDED BY:
DR. SHUBHINI A SARAF
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES
BBAU LUCKNOW

2. CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES OF TELEPHARMACY
IMPLEMENTATION OF TELEPHARMACY
INVOLVEMENT OF PHARMACIST IN TELEPHARMACY
DIFFERENT TYPES OF TELEPHARMACY
BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
DISADVANTAGES
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
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3. INTRODUCTION
• The term telepharmacy indicates a form of pharmaceutical
care in which pharmacists and patients are not in the same
place and can interact using information and
communication technology facilities.
• Telepharmacy has been adopted to provide pharmaceutical
services to underserved areas and to address the problem
of pharmacist shortage.
• Telepharmacy may be defined as the provision of
pharmacist care by registered pharmacist and pharmacies
through the use of tele-communications to the patients who
are located at a distance. 3

4. CONT…
A typical feature of telepharmacy service is that the
pharmacist is not physically present at the point of
pharmacy operations or patient care.
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5. OBJECTIVES OF TELEPHARMACY
 To make high quality healthcare available to traditionally
under privileged population.
 To save the time wasted by both the health care provider
and patients in travelling.
 Case monitoring , home care and remote critical care.
 Reduce the cost of medical care.
 Survey and track diseases.
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6. IMPLEMENTATION OF TELEPHARMACY
Purpose: The implementation of telepharmacy services to
provide round the clock medication order review by
pharmacists is described.
The implementation of telepharmacy varies by region and
jurisdiction factors including geography , laws and regulation
and economics influences its implementation.
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7. HOW DOES TELEPHARMACY WORKS?
In general , a small hospital , telephamacy or clinic in an
isolated area connected to a commonly utilized service
model in larger urban center that has greater access (often
24 hours) to pharmacist staff.
The connection is possible through videophone system ,
novel software and automated dispensing machines.
The rural site is usually staffed by either pharmacy
technician or nurse , depending on either the site is a
pharmacy or a clinic.
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8. CONT…
They may communicate the prescriptions from patients
who report to these sites to the central site.
 The central pharmacist reviews the prescription and
releases the appropriate items at the rural (e .g , pre
packaged medication from the automated dispensing
machines) and the label.
The pharmacy technician or nurse at the rural site then
scans the bar code so that the prescription matches
with its label, attaches the label, and supplies it to the
patient.
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9. CONT…
 The pharmacist at the central end can visually monitor the
technician or nurse’s work to ensure that the right
medications have been filled and dispensed.
 At the end of the process, the central pharmacist provides a
two-way video consultation for the patient to ensure that
they understand the intended medication use and
administration. This addresses any concerns from the
patient’s perspectives and enables efficient patient
counseling from the central location.
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11. INVOLVEMENT OF PHARMACISTS
In any telepharmacy model, pharmacist can play an active
role in the delivery of pharmacy services.
The pharmacist involving in telepharmacy models ensures
high quality care for the community particularly areas such
as medication reviews and patient counseling.
A 2013 study of the impact of telepharmacy services has
shown that the involvement of pharmacists in the remote
review of medication orders when the hospital pharmacy
was closed resulted in a decreased number of adverse drug
events reported.
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12. CONT…
Adverse drug events and other medication error contribute
to several thousand deaths each year.
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13. TYPES OF TELEPHARMACY
1. Inpatient (Remote order entry review)
2. Remote dispensing
3. IV Admixture
4. Remote counseling
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14. 1.Inpatient (Remote order entry review)
In patient telepharmacy refers to a pharmacist at a remote
location performing remote order entry review services for
inpatient at a hospital.
The remote pharmacist reviews medication orders before
the hospital staff administer drug to the patient.
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15. 2. Remote dispensing
(Retail/outpatient/discharge)
A remote dispensing site, or retail community telepharmacy
,is a licensed and mortal pharmacy staffed by a certified
pharmacy technician.
A pharmacist supervises the technician , reviews
prescriptions and performs hisher duties from remote
location via technology.
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16. 3. IV Admixture
The joint commission on Accrediation of Healthcare
Organizations (JCAHO) defines IV Admixture as “ the
preparation of pharmaceutical products which requireds the
measured addition of a medication to a 50 ml or greater bag
or bottle of intravenous fluid .”
IV Admixture is the mixture of IV solution administerd to
patients in a hospital setting.
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17. 4. Remote Counseling
Remote patient counseling equates to pharmacists provide
patients counseling via a live and interactive video session or
by some means through telecmmunications.
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18. CLINICAL BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES
1. Access to healthcare services
• The primary advantage of telepharmacy is the easy access
to healthcare services in remote and rural location.
• Pharmacist provide high level pharmaceutical care services
in remote areas that have lost or are losing access to
healthcare services.
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19. CONT…
2. Economic benefits
• Telepharmacy has several economic benefits
• One skilled pharmacist can provide service to multiple sites
,cost are minimized.
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20. CONT…
3. Patient satisfaction
• Medication and information in rural areas via telepharmacy
has an advantage of patient satisfaction.
• One of the prominent barriers in the clinic used with elderly
patients missing their appointment because they did not
want to go out of their homes.
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21. CONT...
4. Effective patient counseling
• Telepharmacy ensures greater satisfaction of patient with
regard to the pharmacist counseling and time required
obtaining medication.
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22. CONT…
5. Minimal scarcity of pharmacists
• A number of hospitals , clinics and medical centers in rural areas
are currently facing the scarcity of local pharmacy services where
medication are supplied without the involvement of a pharmacist.
• Telepharmacy has the potential to address the problem of
scarcity of pharmacists.
• The pharmacy profession had an impending role to be the activity
involved in the trials of telepharmacy.
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23. DISADVANTAGES
Pharmacy regulation law
• A number of policy issues such as the physical location of
pharmacists that provide telepharmacy services , minimum
amount of time that pharmacist must be on site , the type
of technology used and the role of pharmacists , pharmacy
technicians nurses or other health care providers in
medications distribution system need to be addressed.
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24. CONT…
Operational difficulties
• Telepharmacy undoubtedly is a great concept , but
sometimes it is challenging to put into practice.
• The rural hospitals and clinics with telepharmacy services
experience operational and resources challenges.
• Face to face versus remote workflow might often be
disturbing and less spontaneous for both patients and
healthcare providers.
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25. CONT…
More time , money and efforts
• The startup of telepharmacy ( hardware , software
,connectivity and operational costs) involves considerable
time efforts and money.
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26. CONCLUSION
• Nowadays, the shortage of health personnel, and in
particular pharmacists, is a challenging issue that the health
systems have to face.
• The use of a new technology such as telepharmacy can
represent a possible option to solve these problems.
However, there are unsolved limitations (e.g., legal
implications) that make greater diffusion of telepharmacy
difficult.
• Telepharmacy holds significant promise as a technology to
improve access to pharmaceutical care for people living in
rural and remote communities.
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27. REFERENCES
https://www.mdpi.com/1010-660X/55/7/327/htm
https://blog.telepharm.com/the-4-different-types-of-telepharmac
https://chironhealth.com/telemedicine/what-is-telemedicine/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6681067/
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