How technology connects patients and pharmacists
When Samara’s family physician retired earlier this year, she was worried. As a single parent with a pre-teen and a teenager she had enough on her plate. When the pandemic started, she decided to bring her 81-year-old father to live with them so she could keep a closer eye on his health.
Samara’s been looking for a new physician but hasn’t had any luck and now her hypertension medication is due for renewal. She sees on her company intranet that her employer offers TELUS Health Virtual Care as part of the benefits package, so she decides to initiate a virtual consult.
During the virtual consultation with the Nurse Practitioner, Samara is able to share her blood pressure readings and the Nurse Practitioner agrees that her current medication is effective. She sends a new prescription, with repeats, to Samara’s pharmacy, where it is processed into the Kroll pharmacy management system.
Vincent, the dispensing pharmacist, sees Samara’s prescription in his Kroll queue. He’s been caring for Samara and her kids for years and is pleased to see her hypertension is under control. After a review, Vincent signs the prescription.
She’s having a busy day with back to back meetings and supervising the kids’ remote schoolwork, so she uses PharmaConnect to send a refill request to the pharmacy asking them to deliver the prescription. At the same time, she visits the pharmacy website to book an online consultation with Vincent to discuss her father’s complex medications for diabetes and depression.
Vincent likes seeing the appointments in his Kroll calendar, which helps him manage his patient volume and ensure he has inventory on hand. Plus, the online booking can help reduce inbound call volumes and avoid no-shows. A few days before the appointment, Samara receives a reminder by text. Good thing: she had forgotten all about it!
Samara and her father have a virtual consultation by video to discuss pharmaceutical and other options with Vincent. Samara’s happy that she doesn’t need to take her father to the pharmacy and her father is pleased that he can talk to the pharmacist privately and without feeling rushed.
Vincent asks to see all of the medication packaging and explains to Samara what each prescription is for. He also confirms that Samara’s father is taking his medication properly and recommends some dietary changes. Using the virtual consultation chat feature, he forwards a document with diet tips for patients with diabetes.
TELUS Health is helping to improve access to healthcare and contributing to efficiently connecting patients and care teams.
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