Integration Of Clinical Professional Pharmacy Services In Spain Into The Care Pathway From The Patient's Perspective

• By: PEIRO, Ana (General Pharmaceutical Council Of Spain, Spain)
• Co-author(s): Ms Ana Lopez-Casero Beltran
  Ms Raquel Martinez Garcia
  Mr Jesus Aguilar Santamaria
  Mr Joel Alves Sanchez
  Mr Antonio Blanes Jimenez
  Mr Juan Iniesta Meco
  Mr Alvaro Salcedo Gomez
  Ms Tamara Peiró Zorrilla
  
• Abstract:

  Introduction
  The health care pathway is a process in which a set of coordinated health professionals are involved in order to provide a solution to a specific health problem. The goal of creating these care pathways is therefore to improve care and patient satisfaction.
  Collaborative work has been undertaken by pharmacists, doctors, nurses, social workers and patients, represented through 3 Patient Associations, coordinated by the General Pharmaceutical Council of Spain with the collaboration of Boehringer Ingelheim.
  Aim
  To define, through collaborative work, the health care pathway for chronic patients, describing the actual and optimal process, integrating the patient's vision and perspective in this process, promoting the appropriate Clinical Professional Pharmacy Services (or SPFA, to use its Spanish acronym) for each phase and making the pharmacist's care value visible.
  Methods
  Implementation of a methodology in 4 phases (May-November 2022) according to "Patient Experience" models using prospection and analysis tools.
  1.Literature review on the particular details of four chronic pathologies.
  2.Surveys of patients and healthcare professionals to determine the patient journey for chronic patients in Spain.
  3.Define solutions for the integration of SPFA in the process through a service blueprint.
  4.Action plan across 4 strategic axes to implement the SPFA in the care process of the chronic patient.
  Results and conclusions
  7 professional surveys and 56 patient surveys as well as 4 focus groups was taken between June-October 2022.
  Patients and professionals agreed on the majority of the most important parts of the health care pathway, although patients gave greater importance to the level of specialised care.
  Patients are looking for a professional who is more accessible, through multiple channels of communication, with whom they can talk, who is focused on their problems (patients-centered).
  There is a high degree of lack of knowledge about the Services from patients, both about their existence and about the multiple benefits they could have for their health, fundamentally due to a lack of homogeneity in the provision of the Services with regional differences and the lack of continuous use; as well as a lack of visibility from pharmacies, because the current legislation on advertising is unequal within the different regions of Spain.
  Patients considered Health Promotion, Therapeutic Adherence Service and Medication Reconciliation Service as the most in demand and Smoking Cessation Service, Nutritional Assessment, Compounding Service and Medicine aid kits revision Service as the least in demand.
  In conclusion, a global conceptual change is needed so that Pharmacies in Spain can be seen as an active agent of health care and the community pharmacist as a professional qualified to carry out Services, as well as the need to homogenise the range of SPFA available throughout the whole country. In addition, for the correct implementation and integration of the Services in the health care pathway for chronic patients, a series of requirements are necessary in terms of space, resources and training.