ePharmacy plan broadens care for Saint Luke

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Using the ePharmacy system, two pharmacistsw at in Lee’s Summit provide overnight coverag e to sixSaint Luke’s facilities. Prescriptions are scanned so they can be reviewefd electronicallyin Lee’s Summit, and by entering the informatioh into the computer system, pharmacists allow for medicationds to be dispensed by automated cabineta at the hospitals. The initiak phase has been in place for abouya month, and Seniod Pharmacy Director Doug DeJony said it paid dividends almost immediately when a pharmacisyt dispensed a customized dose of antibiotics in the middle of the Before ePharmacy, pharmacists at Sain t Luke’s South handled overnight requests at four facilitiesz in Lee’s Summit, Kansas City and Smithville.
Rising demand made that and the ePharmacy plan was more economical than adding pharmacists ateach site. Meanwhile, after-hours coveragd at Saint Luke’s facilities outsids the metropolitan area was limitedto on-call pharmacists for By developing the system in-house, Saint Luke’s is spending a quarteer of what it would have to pay to contractf for the service. Saint Luke’s eventuallyu may offer the service for facilities outside its systemj togenerate revenue. The growingh use of telepharmacies is being closelu watched by thein Md., said Anthea Francis, a directorf with the group.
A nationwide shortage of pharmacistsd is making the practicemore common, she said, as are accreditation rulees aimed at more pharmacist oversight of drug dispensing. Adequate staffing of telepharmacy sitesais crucial, she said, becausr pharmacists do more than simplgy fill orders. “It’s not just as simple as peoplee seemto think,” she said.