At Nebraska Medicine, we strive to promote safe medication practices and advance the quality of care for all patients we serve. In an effort to extend this mission, Nebraska Medicine began offering remote pharmaceutical care to critical access and community hospitals in the Midwest region in 2008. The Remote Pharmaceutical Care Service (RPCS) at Nebraska Medicine provides a customized selection of comprehensive pharmacy services to hospitals where the current population may be underserved with respect to pharmaceutical care and safe medication practices. In addition, the RPCS offers hospitals the ability to extend 24/7 pharmaceutical care to their patients and/or provide supplemental coverage to existing pharmacy staff as needed.
The RPCS is staffed 24/7 by experienced and knowledgeable hospital pharmacists whose primary responsibility is to provide exceptional and professional service to RPCS sites. RPCS pharmacists are licensed and highly trained on each site’s policies, procedures and pharmacy system and are available by phone to each site and its staff for any questions. The comprehensive pharmaceutical services offered by the RPCS includes: remote order review, clarification, verification and/or entry, medication therapy management, clinical and pharmacokinetic consults and monitoring, medication error prevention, drug information, and medication reconciliation.
Benefits of the Remote Pharmacy:
- Prospective order review, verification, and entry.
- Enhanced patient safety and reduced medication errors.
- 24/7, seamless coverage.
- Expanded access to experienced hospital pharmacists, immediate drug information and clinical expertise.
- Enhanced satisfaction of medical personnel and hospital staff.
- Provision of supportive coverage to on-site pharmacists that allows expansion of their clinical activities and increases satisfaction and retention.
Services offered:
- Prospective pharmacist review.
- Medication therapy management service.
- Visual authentication of medications (optional).
- Nursing in-services.
- Quality control and improvement.
- Drug policy development.
- Medication safety consultations.
- Antimicrobial Stewardship
- Development of guidelines and service level contracts with local pharmacists.
Contacts:
- Utilize Nebraska Medicine’s Remote Pharmacy service by first calling 402.559.4877 and ask for Remote Pharmaceutical Care Services. Melissa G. Welch returns all messages and a site assessment will be performed.
- The site assessment includes work flow analysis, connectivity analysis, infrastructure analysis.
- Recommendations will be made to the organization regarding immediate and future needs for pharmaceutical care.