For the average person, getting the right medication is a simple endeavor: the doctor prescribed it, the pharmacist fills it and voila, it works as intended. But for many patients, those with complicated health conditions, on multiple medications, or treatment does not work, the basic model of medication service breaks down fast.
While standard pharmacy services are effective, they’re not always equipped to provide the clear-cut picture for treatment success. When a patient is only on one medication, it’s easy for the pharmacist to do their job and hand it over.
When someone is on five medications, experiencing some side effects but not all that were warned about, or finds their blood pressure still isn’t under control after three months, they need more than a prescription fulfillment.
Why Standard Pharmacy Services Are Not Enough
Standardized pharmacy operations are quick and efficient. They exist to service the greater population. Therefore, a pharmacist checks a prescription, checks interactions, fills the medication and sends the patient on their way. In an ideal world for singular prescriptions that’s the way it should work.
But problems occur when treatment gets complicated. For example, a patient who manages diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol may be on six/seven different medications. Each has an optimal time of day to take them, each interacts with certain foods, and each produces side effects that could easily be added to the list of comorbidities. All of a sudden, once over-the-counter vitamins are factored in, the possibilities compound.
Standard pharmacies don’t have the time to investigate every little nuance. A pharmacist will tell a patient they can’t take two drugs together, but they may not look up generic options to see if one might be better than the other. A pharmacy is there to process prescriptions—not personalize them.
Yet when treatment becomes complicated, it’s more than personal experience; it’s about acknowledging red flags and employing problem-solving skills to come to a resolution.
Who Needs More Than Standard Pharmacy Services?
Clear-cut situations indicate someone who needs more than standard pharmacy services. For example, patients on four or more medications regularly are at a higher risk for drug interactions and side effects. It also complicates treatment plans for separate issues if no one is actively managing the picture of what’s there instead of just adding to the mess.
Patients who find that medications are not working need someone who can question why. Is it not working because it’s not the right medication? Because it’s being taken improperly? Because something else is interfering with its effectiveness? Is it working too well because it’s actually something for another condition? This can’t be fully assessed by standard pharmacy services.
Patients with medications that require constant evaluation also need personalized solutions. Blood thinners and other such medications require continual assessment of blood levels and nothing is worse than someone with hypothyroidism trying to manage their dose alone until their next appointment. A pharmacy program that flags specific numbers and paths for ongoing communication makes all the difference. Programs like nc plus are medication optimization solutions that promote better results for patients instead of trial-and-error.
What Does More Intensive Pharmacy Service Look Like?
The difference isn’t just someone taking the time to assess what’s going on, it’s literally someone reviewing everything. When a new prescription is added, they check. When time passes, they check. When results are called into a doctor, they check.
It means every medication is assessed against everything else over time, beyond just immediate concerns. Not every side effect or interaction produces immediate danger, thus comprehensive pharmacy solutions find all of them.
There are also comprehensive reviews where a patient can go over what’s going on with all doctors and get suggestions based on just what people are taking instead of miscommunications across all of healthcare. Timing may be ideal for one but not the other; there’s generic options; sometimes things prescribed before might not be needed currently.
The problems of keeping everything straight matter more than patients realize. Patients who have symptoms dismissed might get them reassessed without waiting for follow-ups once a pharmacist is involved; these direct lines and active monitoring help those whose health fluctuate far more than periodic inquiries by doctors once every few months.
What’s The Accessory Problem No One Talks About?
The issue that stumps most people? Our healthcare system is run by various providers who don’t talk to each other half as often as they should. So, a patient goes to their PCP once a year who prescribes ten different meds but never realizes they’re seeing their cardiologist quarterly who prescribes another five medications that interact with one of those ten.
It’s problematic, and gaps emerge. A cardiologist bumps up blood pressure only to learn at the next appointment that the endocrinologist switched diabetes medication yesterday, and therefore it’s not working out as well anymore. Or someone adds on another medication from another specialist who tried something new without checking back on what had already worked previously.
Pharmacy programs act as single managers instead of compartmentalized approaches. They gain access to everything being taken and check bases before overtaking them later on down the line; they also have communication access back to doctors to question adjustments when things aren’t adding up anymore.
What Are Cost Factors?
Medication problems create hospitalizations; emergency room visits and extended doctor appointments down the line. That means another ten different medications to try and work through side effects from these medications that shouldn’t have been prescribed in the first place after everything was unfortunately missed in transition.
Good medication management keeps all these problems at bay. Good comprehensive services get patients the right medication from the start more often than not. Good assessments get proactive intervention instead of emergency ones.
In ideal world scenarios, investing in more comprehensive care pays off better healthcare down the line.
Who Needs What?
Not everyone requires intensive services, but when patients have had problems in the past, who’ve have complicated treatments before or end up with unnecessary side effects or compounded realities at least honesty begs them to ask if their needs are really being met by standard pharmacy services.
It’s not a matter of whether it costs more, it’s a matter of whether it works. If medications aren’t controlling as well as they should, side effects are preventing any progress and coordination feels overwhelming at the moment with subsequent medications being forgotten by each doctor along the way due to compartmentalizing efforts.
Healthcare works better when someone is paying attention to details and not just making sure technically everything is okay for new drug prescriptions along the way.
For patients who have complicated medication needs or processes, pharmacy solutions represent the difference between subpar treatment and treatment that works.