Pharmacists: A Key Player for Happier Patients

It’s never much fun to face a serious health condition, but having a pharmacist in direct communication with a patient makes things less stressful for patients. In fact, patient access to pharmacists who provide personal education and answers about newly prescribed medications are a key to higher levels of patient satisfaction, according new research presented at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists’ 54th Midyear Clinical Meeting and Exhibition.

This research was conducted with patients during a hospital stay, but the patient benefits of understanding medication use should hold true for both newly released patients and patients who were not hospitalized.

This research report, which was titled: “Pharmacists Transitions-of-Care Service Improves HCAHPS Scores and Decreases 30-day Hospital Readmission Rates,” adds to the body of knowledge that already supports the importance of easy and clear patient access to pharmacy information. Pharmacists step in to guide patients through the otherwise murky transition between a prescription being written and that patient’s implementation of a plan of care.

Patients who can ask questions directly to a pharmacist and receive medication education showed a 15% uptick in patient satisfaction, simply by having access to pharmacist-led patient engagement.

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