On Tuesday I went to the SVT clinic in Anchor Point. It is a small clinic that is only open Tuesdays and Thursdays and is staffed with one Medical Assistant and one Family Nurse Practitioner. While I was there I was introduced to telepharmaacy. SVT clinic carries telepharmacy machines that works similarly to a vending machine. A provider will write a prescription, fax it to a pharmacy in Anchorage, and a label will be faxed back to be scanned by the machine and then dispensed. SVT also allows parents to do developmental screening with their child (similar to the Denver II) outside of the clinic and then providers are able to read the documentation online to keep track of a child's progress. The system they use is called ASQ and is a part of well-child checkups.
As previously mentioned, the clinic does not only rely on opioid interventions for pain management and therefore, does not provide opioid prescriptions without a contract or agreement in place. In this agreement a provider and patient will determine the parameters for use. The patient will agree to comply with random pill counts at appointments and if they are found on a database getting medication from anywhere else, they will be discharged from the clinic.
After hearing about this unique way to keep control of the amount of opioid medications being dispensed, I can see that if this method was carried out in other healthcare facilities it could have the ability to improve the opiod crisis surrounding the country. Upon seeing how this works in the clinic, I could bring this method to my future place of work and hopefully see a difference made in opioid dependency. If this type of agreement was more widespread, it may show a positive impact on the current opioid crisis.
As previously mentioned, the clinic does not only rely on opioid interventions for pain management and therefore, does not provide opioid prescriptions without a contract or agreement in place. In this agreement a provider and patient will determine the parameters for use. The patient will agree to comply with random pill counts at appointments and if they are found on a database getting medication from anywhere else, they will be discharged from the clinic.
After hearing about this unique way to keep control of the amount of opioid medications being dispensed, I can see that if this method was carried out in other healthcare facilities it could have the ability to improve the opiod crisis surrounding the country. Upon seeing how this works in the clinic, I could bring this method to my future place of work and hopefully see a difference made in opioid dependency. If this type of agreement was more widespread, it may show a positive impact on the current opioid crisis.