TeleFarma – modern communication between physicians and clinical pharmacists
Simple and fast consultation between a physician and a clinical pharmacist
In cooperation with the Medical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana, Health Center Škofja Loka and General Hospital Murska Sobota we have developed the TeleFarma application, which enables a modern, easy and fast consultation between physicians and clinical pharmacists.
TeleFarma enables all physicians, regardless of their location, equal access to clinical pharmacists and offers better cooperation between physicians and clinical pharmacists.
It helps with optimization of pharmacotherapy for patients and contributes to savings in the health insurance fund.
”Modern application enables faster treatment .”
We started using the TeleFarma application in Health Center Škofja Loka, which means we can get an opinion on the therapy from a clinical pharmacist during the treatment of a patient or change pharmacotherapy, e.g. due to adverse drug reactions. We send the request to the on-duty clinical pharmacist using a computer program with this new application. The clinical pharmacist receives an SMS notification that a consultation is pending. We receive his answer in real time, which allows us to take immediate action with the patient.
This process will undoubtedly speed up our treatment of the patient. Currently, we cooperate well with clinical pharmacists through paperwork, but it is time consuming for the clinical pharmacist to arrive at our location, review the documentation, consult with the patient if necessary, and then write an opinion.
Modern technology makes this process much faster.
prim. dr. Aleksander Stepanović, MD, spec. spl. med., director of Health Center Škofja Loka
Current access of Slovenian health care institutions to the opinions of clinical pharmacists is not equal or complete.
The usual existing method of consultation between a physician and a clinical pharmacist normally provides the physician with all patient data, including diagnoses, results, pharmacotherapeutic data, etc. The contact between a physician and a clinical pharmacist is physical, which means that a clinical pharmacist responds to a physician’s request and visits him in person at his location. A clinical pharmacist may be in charge of several medical facilities, so the procedure may be delayed.
When a clinical pharmacist arrives at a medical facility, he or she reviews the patient’s records, conducts an interview with the patient, if possible, and then writes a pharmacotherapeutic opinion.
Presently, it is common for an individual clinical pharmacist to visit only selected healthcare facilities, those which he or she usually works regularly with. Cooperation between clinical pharmacists themselves, however, is not regulated and is probably based more on private networking. Therefore, the access of Slovenian health care institutions to the opinions of clinical pharmacists is not equal or complete.
”TeleFarma is the future.”
TeleFarma is the future, because there will always be a shortage of clinical pharmacists in Slovenia to be able to be present at the physicians’ locations at times when they most need our opinion. In fact, sometimes the time component is very important regarding the safety of treating patients in order to prevent issues that may be present.
Therefore, I can see a great advantage in these applications and fast integration over the classic ordering with paper work orders.
dr. Alenka Kovačič, MSc in Pharmacy, spec.clin.pharm., participated in the TeleFarma pilot project
Are you interested in how the TeleFarm application is used in practice?
You can watch a video of the presentation of the TeleFarma application on our YouTube channel .
Optimization of pharmacotherapy for patients and savings in the health insurance fund.
TeleFarma primarily connects clinical pharmacists with each other, therefore a rich data base is being created. The collaboration between a physician and clinical pharmacist is being upgraded. There is no longer a need for time-consuming processes, such as visits to physical locations, as we have replaced them with a video call in TeleFarma, which still provides a kind of personal contact. All data exchange is secure and compliant with the law.
“Together for better and more personal medicine.”
I am extremely pleased that the project involved the collaboration of an innovative academic and industrial environment together with clinical practice. In my opinion this is the right way where multidisciplinary professionals can help lead to better and more personal medicine that is more cost-effective for patients and also brings lower costs.
doc.dr. Brane Leskošek, head of the TeleFarma pilot project at the Medical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana
CONCEPT DESIGN
The field of telepharmacology was conceptually designed by doc.dr. Brane Leskošek and doc.dr. Polonca Ferk from the Medical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana. In the Telefarma project P. Ferk was the coordinator for pharmacology.
Reference: Leskošek B, Ferk P. Telepharmacology in clinical practice?. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2013;192:1220, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23920994-telepharmacology-in-clinical-practice/.
Are you interested in learning more about using the TeleFarma app?
Would you like to enable pysicians to communicate quickly and safely with clinical pharmacists and achieve greater safety in the treatment of patients?
Marjana Pikec
TeleFarma project manager in SRC Infonet
Call us for a presentation of the TeleFarma application in your institution.
Record, photos: Tea Petrovski