The Main Components of the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process

Pharmacy Times spoke with Janet Cooley, PharmD, BCACP, Associate Professor and Director of Experiential Education, Pharmacy Practice and Science, University of Arizona, about her session at McKesson ideaShare 2022, titled "The Wheel of Pharmacy: The Pharmacists' Patient Care Process".

Cooley: Thanks. Yeah, so the main components, I like to remind people of a wheel image. So I actually happen to have it on my mouse pad, if you can see it here. So the wheel image has five pieces on the outside. So there's “Collect,” where the pharmacist or pharmacy team member can collect subjective objective information, or “Assess,” where the team member makes an assessment plan where they develop a care plan, “Implement” where we implement that plan, and then “Follow Up,” “Monitor” and “Evaluate.” Inside that circle, there's three more pieces. So, in order to do all of those things, we're communicating with the patient and other team members. we're documenting our actions because if we don't document, it didn't happen, and we're collaborating. And then finally at the center, and the center of all of our work is “Patient Centered Care.” And that's what we really want to keep at the heart of our work.