U.S. Navy Pharmacies Improve Patient Care With Telepharmacy

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Apr 13, 2010, 03:00 ET

MISSION, Kan., April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Quality patient care depends on personal access to healthcare professionals, including pharmacists. As with all sectors of healthcare, the U.S. Navy faces a shortage of pharmacists, and consequently struggles with providing its patients access to analysis of their medication needs and counseling on the use of their medications. Additional strains occur when unexpected obligations crop up, such as the recent earthquakes in Haiti. Pharmacy staff is often redeployed on a moment's notice, leaving staff shortages in other locations.

ScriptPro's Telepharmacy is designed to maximize pharmacist resources by allowing one pharmacist to oversee the dispensing process at one or more satellite pharmacies. Pharmacists use the Telepharmacy system by ScriptPro to dispense prescriptions with powerful accuracy checks and real-time electronic images of every step in the process. With Telepharmacy, the pharmacist is able to view, through video and audio links, the original prescription, the actual medication to be dispensed, and the file image of the prescribed drug from ScriptPro's comprehensive drug database. Patient counseling is provided through the same video and audio connections.

"Our Telepharmacy system operates in a systematic way. It organizes photos, which become part of the electronic record, of the written prescription, the drug image, and patient information. The pharmacist reviews these remotely and then interacts with the patient concerning the proper use of the medication," according to Mike Coughlin, President and CEO of ScriptPro. "Global Internet telecommunications make pharmacists available to multiple locations from virtually anywhere in the world."

After testing all available telepharmacy systems, ScriptPro's Telepharmacy was the only product found to meet the high standards established by the Navy to ensure that patients receive the same high quality care via remote interaction with their pharmacist as they would if the patient and pharmacist were face to face. The largest Telepharmacy rollout in history is now underway.

About ScriptPro: ScriptPro develops, provides and supports state-of-the-art, robotics-based management, workflow, and telepharmacy systems for pharmacies. ScriptPro is dedicated to helping pharmacies lower operating costs, reduce dispensing errors and maximize customer satisfaction. ScriptPro technology helps pharmacies operate efficiently and profitably so they can deliver the maximum contribution to the healthcare system. ScriptPro, with headquarters in Mission, Kansas, provides automation to thousands of pharmacies worldwide.

www.scriptpro.com

SOURCE ScriptPro