First virtual clinical pharmacy service in Australia established, Dubbo researchers honoured

As a result of the Virtual Clinical Pharmacy Service model (VCPS), 29 hospitals in the region, from Oberon to Bourke, now have pharmacists available to speak to patients and carry out medication management.

READ ALSO:

Two Dubbo health professionals, Dr Shannon Nott and Cristen Fleming, were part of the team that developed the VCPS model. They were honoured for their efforts at the annual Western NSW Health Research Network awards at Dubbo's Regional Theatre and Convention Centre on October 25.

The VCPS was initiated in 2018 when a team of researchers, pharmacists, doctors and nurses, applied for funding to try out a new virtual pharmacy service. They were motivated to remove the risk in small hospitals of people taking medication without having a pharmacist to help review them.

The funding helped supply video conferencing machines to the first eight hospitals where a clinical pharmacist could be wheeled into a patient's room on a big screen.

"We wanted to overcome that risk by bringing the pharmacist to the patient's bedside," lead virtual pharmacist and 'Emerging Researcher of the Year' awardee, Cristen Fleming told Daily Liberal.

"In the small hospitals that didn't have pharmacists... it wasn't geographically feasible to have a pharmacist going to these hospitals because they would have to drive between them and spend most of the day in the car."

Ms Fleming is now able to see 30 patients a day across five hospitals without leaving her office in Dubbo.

"It's really good that we have the technology now," she said.

Dr Shannon Nott, rural health director of medical services at WNSWLHD, was the chief investigator for the VCPS and was awarded 'Clinical Research Leader of the Year' for his contributions.

He said Western NSW was an "absolutely thriving area" for rural and remote healthcare research.

"We've got some of the country's most enthusiastic and dedicated clinicians and researchers working together to be able to provide high quality research that benefits our rural and remote communities, research that's meaningful in terms of how do we look at new ways of addressing some challenges in rural and remote healthcare," Dr Nott said.

The VCPS research and feedback from hospital staff using the service has been published in international medical journals. Health districts and organisations in NSW and in other states have approached WNSW LHD in hopes of adopting similar virtual models in their regions.

"I think it's brilliant for its safety. It does improve safety. It has to. I mean how can it not?," one doctor stated.

Nursing staff also looked at it an as education opportunity.

"Listening to them give the patients education. We're learning at the same time as everyone else," a nurse said.

The VCPS team aimed to approach the pharmacist challenge formally, with research, so they would be able to share those learnings broadly, making a difference to patients in the rest of NSW, Australia and around the world.

Do you have something to say? Submit a letter to the editor