Clinical pharmacists, who specialize in ambulatory care, manage patients in the outpatient setting via Medication Management Services. Patients are seen for a variety of clinical services via Anticoagulation, Medication Compliance, and Hypertension Clinic service lines. These specialty clinics are pharmacist-managed under approved protocols. Ambulatory Care clinical pharmacists also provide transitions of care services for patients with heart failure who have recently been discharged from the hospital. Additionally, these pharmacists serve as a drug information resource and provide medication recommendations, patient education and medication use evaluations to Internal Medicine and Family Medicine residents, attending physicians, medical and pharmacy students, nurses, and patients.
Patients of the WT Anderson Community Health Center may be referred for hypertension management via the Hypertension Clinic. Pharmacists provide extensive patient education and medication management to assist patients in achieving their blood pressure goals.
Patients receiving warfarin therapy are referred to this clinic for anticoagulation management. Patients are evaluated by clinical pharmacists for therapeutic range, adverse drug reactions, diet and medication compliance, and recurrence of thrombotic events.
Patients are referred to this clinic if they have a history of non-adherence with medications, need closer monitoring, or are unable to meet their therapeutic goals with traditional medical management. The clinical pharmacists work very closely with each patient to optimize their disease state management and quality of life by improving pharmacological and non-pharmacological adherence and appointment compliance.
Ambulatory care pharmacists provide clinical review and support for heart failure patients transitioning from inpatient care to the outpatient setting. This service includes ensuring patients are optimized on guideline directed medication therapies, patient education, addressing medication access barriers, and care coordination for heart failure.