In-house pharmacy services will improve efficiencies and patient safety controls
WICHITA, Kan. – After two years of planning, WESLEYCare Pharmacy, an affiliate of Wesley Medical Center, will provide in-house pharmacy services to Larksfield Place, a continuum-of-care retirement community. Pharmacy services will be provided to 90 healthcare center residents and 48 assisted living residents, and there are plans to expand services to Larksfield’s 32-bed memory unit in December.
“WESLEYCare Pharmacy’s geriatric clinical pharmacist specialists are serving long-term care and assisted living clients in new, groundbreaking ways,” said Jack Bond, Wesley’s market director of pharmacy services. “Medication safety, efficiency and cost-effective care are at the heart of our new services.”
The implementation process included working with the Kansas State Board of Pharmacy to modify regulations to allow pilot projects to improve patient care for Kansas residents. WESLEYCare Pharmacy’s pilot project is using Pyxis machines within long-term care facilities. Pyxis is an automated dispensing system that reduces dispensing errors, increases the rate of medication dispensing, provides better inventory management and increases security for medications. This system has been in place at Wesley Medical Center for 20 years.
“We’ve completely redesigned the workflow for the nurses to use more of the hospital approach to dispensing medications and to implement more patient safety controls using the Pyxis machine,” said Bob Elsbernd, pharmacy manager for Wesley’s Wichita market.
WesleyCare Pharmacy is staffed with a geriatric clinical pharmacist specialist Monday through Friday. At all other times, pharmacist specialists at Wesley Medical Center are available to review orders.
For more information about WESLEYCare Pharmacy, please visit www.wesleycareclinics.com.
Wesley Medical Center is the region’s leading acute care hospital network providing a full range of diagnostic and treatment services for patients throughout Kansas and northern Oklahoma since 1912. As a leader in Overall Recommended Care, Wesley treats more than 24,000 patients annually and delivers more than 6,000 babies – more than any hospital in a 13-state region. Wesley provides the most extensive emergency network in Wichita, with Wesley ER, Wesley West ER and Galichia ER. Wesley owns and operates Galichia Heart Hospital, WesleyCare Clinics and the Pediatric Center of Kansas. To learn more about Wesley Medical Center, please www.wesleymc.com.