Experiences in Preventive Care Services

Jim Kirby, PharmD, BCPS, CDE, and sr. director of pharmacy services for The Kroger Co., disusses his own experiences in providing preventive care services. This video was filmed at the 2019 NACDS Total Store Expo in Boston.

RELATED VIDEOS

• Why Are Preventive Care Services Necessary?
• Opportunities for Chain Pharmacies in Preventive Care Services

Jim Kirby, PharmD, BCPS, CDE: I love the role that I've been able to play in preventive care, from when I was a practitioner in the store to now, kind of managing this program for our company. But the stories that I hear from our customers that are writing handwritten notes and sending them in about the experience that they've had, or their 'ah-ha' moments, like 'Oh my gosh, I didn't know that my blood sugar was high or my blood pressure was high, and now I need to do something about it.' To the stories of calls for action, to celebrations, that they've been working on losing weight or tweaking their medications and now they can actually see that reflected in their lab results. It's very telling, and I would say for us, for me, the other piece is I look at the number of times our pharmacy staff are referring patients to either an urgent care or an ER for immediate evaluation because they are in a danger zone. That is just really impactful because we are saving people's lives, not just for the long-term haul, for prevention, but we are actually saving people's lives today.