Promoting Team Based Care and Pharmacists’ Clinical Practice
Submission Date: July 2018
State/Territory Submitted on the Behalf of: West Virginia
States/Territories Involved: West Virginia
Funding Source: CDC
CDC Funding:Yes
CDC Funding (Specified):(1305) State Public Health
Public Health Issue:One in three U.S. adults has hypertension. Successfully treating this condition often requires prescription medication.
As essential members of the healthcare team, pharmacists can take on expanded, clinically-oriented patient care services and offer patient education to support the management of chronic conditions, including hypertension. According to the Community Preventive Services Task Force, when pharmacists are part of the healthcare team managing a patient’s hypertension treatment, blood pressure control improves.
Traditional pharmacist practice includes components that are now formalized as the Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process (PPCP) to promote consistent, predictable, and measurable pharmacists’ service delivery. Collaborative practiceagreements (CPA) are a formal way for pharmacists to collaborate with healthcare team prescribers by specifying the functions prescribers can delegate to the pharmacist. Delegating functions related to initiating, modifying, or discontinuing medications for hypertension, for example, leverages the pharmacist’s expertise and eliminates extra steps for the patient and the prescribing provider.
Program Action:NACDD, in coordination with the CDC Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, works with a West Virginia state team to accelerate team-based care using the PPCP and CPAs to manage high blood pressure. The team includes the West Virginia Bureau of Public Health and the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy.
A practice assessment revealed that 68% of respondents are considering establishing CPAs.
The team worked with three West Virginia schools of pharmacy on incorporating the PPCP as part of the curriculum; reviewed CPA protocol templates; and provided technical assistance to pharmacists who expressed interest in developing a CPA.
Impact/Accomplishments:The West Virginia University School of Pharmacy trained 81 pharmacists on the topic of team-based care using Pharmacy Collaborative Practice Agreements and offered continuing education credits for participation.
This project resulted in an increase in the number of CPAs implemented in West Virginia, from nine to 18. Another 12 clinical teams are drafting CPAs. The West Virginia Board of Pharmacy also updated their processes to reduce the waiting time for CPA approval.
All three West Virginia schools of pharmacy now include the PPCP as a curriculum component, valuable education that can help advance PPCP use by future West Virginia pharmacists.
A scheduled training will teach up to 25 pharmacists how to become hypertension education providers for the WISEWOMAN (Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for WOMen Across the Nation) program, adding an important educational dimension to their pharmacy practice. WISEWOMAN was created to help women understand and reduce their risk for heart disease and stroke.
Program Areas:Heart Disease and Stroke
State Contact Information:
WV
Jessica Wright
West Virginia Bureau for Public Health
304-356-4229
Jessica.G.Wright@wv.gov