Category: Federal Forum Posters
Purpose: Untimely access to medical care has been alleged to cause morbidity/mortality in the Veteran population. There is evidence however, that increasing use of the healthcare system and decreasing wait times may improve blood glucose control and diabetes-related outcomes. At LVAMC, Diabetes Education Clinic (DEC) is a centralized, pharmacist-run clinic that helps Veterans to better manage their disease. Unfortunately, due to the number of Veterans diagnosed with diabetes, wait times sometimes exceed the recommended 30-day time frame for new consults. The goal of this project is to decrease the time to pharmacist-led diabetes care for the Veteran population at LVAMC.
Methods: This project was reviewed and approved in accordance with local policy for quality improvement projects. The Veterans Affairs initiative for Patient Aligned Care Teams (PACT) developed interdisciplinary primary care teams and one of its main focuses is to improve Veteran access to healthcare. Therefore, pharmacists in PACT may be integral in the deliverance of prompt diabetes care. Information will be gathered about past referrals to the DEC to determine the types of patients that would most benefit from PACT pharmacist intervention. Using this data, along with input from other members of PACT, new procedures will be developed that are streamlined and user-friendly. The new procedures will be piloted by a single PACT team to identify barriers to facility-wide implementation. Data regarding time to care will be collected for patients affected by the new procedures. Ongoing feedback will also be requested from various members of the team and adjustments to the procedures will be made as needed.
Results: not applicable
Conclusion: not applicable
Robert Bennett
– Student, University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tonawanda, NY143 Views