Pharmacy driven medication history programs are essential for accurate transitions of care and patient safety, especially in rural and resource-limited settings. Jenny Slavens, from IU Health Arnett shares how her team built a 24/7 regional program that provides medication history support for their community hospital and several critical access facilities. She discusses the shift from a nurse-led to a pharmacy technician-driven model, the operational challenges of scaling services across multiple sites, and the decision to use phone-based interviews to streamline workflows.
Speaker:
Jenny Slavens, PharmD, BCPS
Pharmacy Manager Inpatient Clinical Pharmacy Services
Department of Pharmacy
Indiana University Health - West Region
Host:
Jim Lichauer, PharmD, BCPS, FASHP
Sr PI Program Director, Pharmacy
Performance Improvement Programs
Vizient
Show notes:
[00:52] – Jenny outlines the structure of the medication history team at IU Health Arnett and how the program operates across facilities
[02:10] – Discussion of coverage for critical access hospitals and how the team manages varying hours across sites
[02:53] – The evolution from a nurse-led process to a pharmacy-driven model for medication history documentation
[04:08] – Why the team shifted from using web-based technology to phone-based medication histories for efficiency and safety
[05:20] – How bidirectional communication between pharmacy staff and physicians is maintained through the electronic medical record system
[07:03] – Establishing the goal of completing 80% of medication histories within four hours of admission to support timely care decisions
[08:55] – How the newly added Tipton facility improved from 10% to 72% completion of medication histories
[10:56] – Strategies for balancing staff workload across inpatient, surgical, and emergency admissions
[14:22] – Demonstrating the value of the medication history process and creatively using FTE staffing to improve coverage and efficiency
Links | Resources:
Contacting Knowledge on the Go: picollaboratives@vizientinc.com
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