Patients receiving education about SSRI antidepressants increased from 50% to 74% from 16th July to 15th August at Waimauku Village Pharmacy.
Opportunity
Following staff education, and improved documentation of processes, 50% more patients received education about their SSRI from Waimauku Village Pharmacy. Although some patients did not receive education across all measures, 90% received some information, an improvement from 60% at baseline.
Baseline n=10 50% patients received education
PDSA 1 n=19 74% patients received education
Aim
All patients dispensed an SSRI antidepressant at Waimauku village Pharmacy between 16th July and 15th August 2018 will receive structured education and written information about the SSRI
Intervention
1. Pharmacy staff survey - to determine barriers of providing education to patients with an SSRI.
2. Patient survey - to determine what information they want about their medicines, where from (eg GP, nurse, pharmacist) and the form (eg face-to-face, written, website).
3. Patient education and data collection - Process and Outcome measures
PDSA 1: Combined staff meeting to determine the problem and why it needs action
PDSA 2: Incorporate a template in the pharmacy software to enable easy documentation of education provided and data collection
PDSA 3: Create labels to attach to the medicine bag to encourage patient education and prompt documentation of the discussion
PDSA 4: Pre-print medicine information sheet and keep on bench for easy access
Impact
RESULTS: Patients receiving education about SSRI antidepressants increased from 50% to 74% from 16th July to 15th August at Waimauku Village Pharmacy.
Project Team
Planning & Funding Team
Angela Lambie and Diana Phone, Pharmacists for Safety in Practice (SiP),
Team Members
- Jason Lowe, Community Pharmacist
- Mandy Nathan, Pharmacy Technician
- Barbara Conning-Davis, Coach
Next steps
- Continue monitoring and share results with staff
- Find out how much information patients want to receive about their SSRI – all at first dispensing, or cumulatively when collecting repeats
- Discuss with team how to sustain improvements made to keep up momentum
- Discuss how to make it easier to discuss side effects and what to do if missed a dose.
Jason Lowe
Mandy Nathan
