Linkage

My sister visited her pharmacy the other week to pick up medication X.  Several weeks earlier she had visited a different pharmacy (in the same chain) to pick up medication Y.  About a week after taking both medications at the same time she experienced major gastrointestinal symptoms. 

            Several weeks later she visited her doctor to discuss her general health and the progression of her disease states.  She talked about her stomach issue and was informed by her doctor that medication X and Y together are known to cause serious adverse drug reactions.  After the appointment she called me to complain about the fact that her pharmacy missed the drug interaction of the two medications together.  My first response to her was “did you use to different pharmacy locations for the medication?”  She paused for several seconds and shouted back “YES!” Then she farther complained about her situation.

            When you or I visit a pharmacy, they create a record of what medications we’ve bought from them, what allergies we have, and any other important medical information they should know that would pertain to our medication therapy.  Now, if you went to Publix pharmacy and then visited a different Publix pharmacy or another chain all together, they would not be able to tell very important missing information because each stores profile contained for an individual is usually based on only that specific one store (even if it is part of a major chain). The point I’m trying to get it is the fact that the systems are not linked.  This is why pharmacies encourage patients to only use theirs and try to entice patients with coupons for transferred/new prescriptions.

            Unlike other pharmacies, I am employed by a major retail corporation that is developing a way to link their stores profiles together to account for patients using their chain in multiple locations.  (I will call this chain pharmacy MFR) Right now, MFR has stores that are located in the southern region of Florida linked in this system.  When a sick patient decides to visit the MFR I work at only because it’s on the way home from their doctors’ office, which is a different MFR then they usually go to, their home stores profile will be linked with mine.  This means I can safely confirm that the patient will most likely have few (if any) drug interactions, allergies, or medical issues due to complications of the newly prescribed medication with older ones. 

Systems like the one MFR employs are FANTASTIC!  They help increase patient compliance and pharmacist awareness.  MFR helps to assess a problem that would not have been caught otherwise.  Before MFR started using this new program last year, they would have to do a central search to see if the patient went to another MFR in the area.  Although they could see the other medications when ACTIVELY looking for them (ex. doing a transfer), it doesn’t mean that they would catch the drug interaction.

Although MFR is a great application, since it is new, it faces a multitude of problems.  For instance, I live in Davie and have all my prescriptions here.  When I go back to Orlando for a refill or new Rx, they are not linked with the Davie MFR because only limited regions have started using this program.  Also, if the program crashes from the main source, then all of the stores that are linked with it will stop working.  Since it is a relatively new program, their may be other problems that will arrive that have not occurred yet.

Although MFR is one of the first entering this new error of ‘linkage,’ just imagine if all pharmacies were linked together through a national database, and not just their own chains.  I know this sounds a lot like “big brother,” but how awesome would it be to know that the information you provided one pharmacy was linked with all others incase you ever need to use them (but would of course still abide by HIPPA).  This is my dream, and I truly believe this could easily become reality.