Mediref is a proposed communication platform that would streamline communication between health professionals like pharmacists and doctors. It would address barriers like having to look up contact information or "phone tennis" by providing a universal directory and allowing asynchronous responses. This could increase collaboration and allow pharmacists to get more involved in areas like medication management, vaccinations, home medicine reviews, and primary care by making communication easier.

1. Streamlining communication between health professionals
(application in pharmacy)
Anish Shah Hemal Ruparelia

2. Pharmacy Communication Today
Phone:
● Prescription changes required - E.g.
Medication change, dosage etc.
● S8 prescription confirmation
Fax:
● Medication histories - E.g. Patient in
hospital
● Nursing home requests - E.g. GP
makes a change in drug chart
>95% of present-day communication can be classified as
‘urgent’. I.e. - Information or medication change required ASAP

3. Why collaboration is limited
Barriers to communication:
● Phone tennis - Catching a doctor in
between patients is difficult
● Having to look up phone/fax
numbers
● Pharmacists don’t want to ‘bother’
doctors unless situation is ‘urgent’
Outcome of the above? A lot of missed opportunities to
collaborate and apply pharmacy expertise

4. Missed opportunities
● Working together for routine/non-urgent patient care. E.
g. Sending GPs B.P./Blood glucose readings (as
opposed to asking the patient to relay this).
● Suggest medication improvements that are not deemed
urgent enough for a phone call (currently, pharmacists
do not bother beyond using the patient to relay this info)
● Make pharmacists accessible so that we are consulted
prior to a change in drug therapy

5. Mediref as a solution
● Address correspondence via just a
name
● Universal directory - No need to look up
phone/fax numbers. Any contact added
by anyone in the network is available to
everyone in the network
● No printing, no faxing, no phone-tennis
● Practitioners can respond at their own
time
Encouraging and increasing communication by completely
removing the difficulty barrier
Recipients addressed using their name.
Mediref also makes suggestions

6. Mediref - Encouraging Pharmacy
Triage
● Multiple health practitioners can be
a part of a patient management
case.
● Current problem: When individual
updates are sent out, the
pharmacist usually gets overlooked
in all matters other than a
medication change
● All updates sent out to everyone
simultaneously
Multi-disciplinary collaboration
allows better integration of
pharmacists in patient care

7. Mediref Role in Continued Dispensing
● Low uptake so far (<2400 total in 10 months)
● Reason - Doing an owing prescription is easier
● Solution - Overcome the limiting step (communicating
with GPs)
Mediref allows easy communication to a patient’s GP of
Continued Dispensing (will get even faster after dispensing
software integration)
Source - http://www.pbs.gov.au/info/publication/reports/continued-dispensing/report-to-parliament

8. Mediref - Upcoming Vaccination
● A top concern for GP’s regarding pharmacist
vaccinations is reduced awareness about their patient’s
care.
● Communication between pharmacists and GP’s will be
vital in allaying these fears.
● From the Continued Dispensing lesson, making this
easy for pharmacists is the key.
● Mediref will allow a secure message to be sent easily,
using just the GP’s name.

9. Mediref Role in HMR’s
● Easily transmit HMR referral, reports and follow up
updates - legal, abides by privacy laws, digitally signed,
instantaneous
● Ability to simultaneously update GP, HMR pharmacist,
pharmacy (as a separate entity) and any other party.
Other parties can be added retrospectively and will have
access to entire history

10. Mediref Role in Primary Care
● Big complaint of docs about lack of communication of
non-prescription medications/treatment given to
patients.
● Without the barrier of difficult communication, primary
care can be relayed easily and instantly
Example comment (one of
many). Sources:
http://doctorsbag.
net/2015/01/29/5-little-known-
reasons-why-pharmacists-
should-not-be-playing-doctor/
http://www.australianprescriber.
com/magazine/33/6/191/3

11. Mediref- Streamlining current
workflows
● Keep all written communication within the one portal. Owing prescription
requests, medication change recommendations, test results etc.
● Integrated fax (also reduces fax costs). E.g. Medical histories can be faxed
from within Mediref (if recipient party is not on Mediref)
● Electronic, backed up, archived copies of all correspondence (allows for
recall if ever needed)
● Providing easy follow up/written confirmation of phone conversations
(legally very important, currently overlooked). E.g. ‘Hi Dr Smith, as per your
prescription for Mrs Jones digoxin dose, and confirmed on the phone with
you earlier, I have dispensed as requested. I have also warned her of
warning signs of toxicity to watch out for.’

12. Mediref In A Nutshell
Mediref will make communication between
pharmacists and their health professional
colleagues easier than sending email.
The resulting increase in communication and
collaboration will allow pharmacists to get much
more involved in patient care.