St. Anthony's patients live below the poverty level, and don't have health insurance. The clinic staff sees as many patients as possible, but we don't have enough resources to care for everyone. Sometimes we have to turn people away.
We couldn't afford a pharmacist, which left our already-stretched physicians and nurse practitioners to dispense medications and educate patients. Diabetic patients, especially newly diagnosed, require quite a large investment of time in order to provide them with the best information about their medication protocols. This prescription drug counseling amounted to 16 hours each month that physicians couldn't spend directly treating patients. But now, thanks to a grant from the McKesson Foundation, clinic patients get better medication education and quicker service, and are expected to experience improved outcomes.
Medical Director
St. Anthony Free Medical Clinic
San Francisco, CA
Ana Valdes, MD
With grant money from the McKesson Foundation, we installed a computer and telemonitor in the clinic. Using teleconferencing technology, patients access "virtual appointments" with offsite pharmacy interns from the UCSF School of Pharmacy. Supervised by licensed pharmacists, these pharmacy students "tele-counsel" patients on medication therapy management.
The telepharmacy allows patients to receive detailed information about their medications as well as reinforcement of lifestyle changes that help them to participate in their diabetes management. With better education, we hope that these patients will be more likely to take their medicines and see improvements in their health. In addition, this system gives pharmacy students the hands-on clinical experience required to graduate, while freeing physicians to see 40 additional patients each month.
The telepharmacy project has been so successful that we have expanded it to other chronic diseases. This is a perfect example of combining philanthropy and technology to make a real difference in people's lives.
