{"id":34846,"date":"2011-05-11T08:09:36","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T12:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=34846"},"modified":"2015-10-20T12:44:20","modified_gmt":"2015-10-20T16:44:20","slug":"faculty-member%e2%80%99s-role-as-community-pharmacist-represents-new-era","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/05\/faculty-member%e2%80%99s-role-as-community-pharmacist-represents-new-era\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty Member\u2019s Role as Community Pharmacist Represents New Era"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Lisa<\/a>
Lisa Holle, assistant clinical professor of pharmacy practice, consults with customers at Storrs Drug. Photo by Peter Morenus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a cool spring morning, a group of local residents gathers at the Mansfield Senior Center to hear a pharmacist speak about preventing falls.<\/p>\n

Some members of the group tell stories about the injuries they suffered in a fall. Others wear small plastic pendants that allow them to call for help at the push of a button should they wind up on the floor and injured.<\/p>\n

The leader of the seminar, Lisa Holle, a UConn assistant clinical professor of pharmacy practice and a registered pharmacist, nods in acknowledgement and proceeds to explain to the group some of the precautions they can take to better protect themselves.<\/p>\n

Holle talks about the hazards of certain medications and over-the-counter drugs (such as Tylenol PM) that can make people drowsy and dangerously dizzy. She also talks about tacking down small area rugs, choosing safe footwear (shoes and slippers that fit snugly and have good grips on the soles are best), and doing simple exercises to build leg strength and increase stability.<\/p>\n

Helping people lead healthier lives<\/strong><\/p>\n

When she isn\u2019t teaching, Holle practices at Storrs Drug through a special arrangement involving the popular local business and the UConn School of Pharmacy<\/a>. But today she is away from the medication dispensing counter at the local pharmacy. By being out in the community talking to patients, Holle represents a new era in community-pharmacy relations, one that UConn\u2019s School of Pharmacy has embraced, taking a leadership role in this field in Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Holle\u2019s mission as the University\u2019s new community clinical pharmacy faculty member is to develop and implement outreach services through community-based patient care and medication therapy management. Part of Holle\u2019s role \u2013 whether by meeting patients in a private counseling area at Storrs Drug or in a community room at the local senior center \u2013 is to help individuals better manage their personal health, especially those with chronic problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and asthma. She does this, in part, by reviewing patients\u2019 medications for possible drug interactions, consulting with patients\u2019 physicians, and advising patients on wellness programs such as her fall prevention seminar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to develop clinical pharmacy services in a community setting, and that hasn\u2019t been done traditionally in New England,\u201d says Holle, who started her new position last fall and has led other talks about calcium and Vitamin D supplements, stroke awareness, and Alzheimer\u2019s disease. \u201cPharmacists have this whole base of knowledge. We are trying to help people to not only make the best and safest use of their medicines but also to lead healthier lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storrs Drug<\/a> is helping fund the faculty position along with UConn\u2019s School of Pharmacy. Co-owner Naufel Tajudeen, a registered pharmacist who holds a doctoral degree in pharmacy, is a firm believer that local pharmacists can play an important role in today\u2019s rapidly changing health care system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our vision of the future of pharmacy,\u201d says Tajudeen. \u201cI think it\u2019s great that Lisa can take the knowledge she has and bring it out to the community. It\u2019s not something that\u2019s easy to do in today\u2019s economy, because these kinds of services currently aren\u2019t reimbursed by insurance. But we feel it is important to show that these services are beneficial and can save money in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a> by the UConn School of Pharmacy, Connecticut Pharmacists Association, and Connecticut Department of Social Services showed that when pharmacists reviewed the medication lists of Medicaid patients, they found numerous problems with how the patients were using anti-inflammatory drugs, statins, asthma inhalers, and medications used to treat diabetes, among other issues.<\/p>\n

Most of the problems were resolved by pharmacists counseling patients or consulting with the patients\u2019 physicians. During the study, physicians and pharmacists worked together to help patients manage their medications and coordinate care, according to Marie Smith, the study\u2019s lead author and a professor and assistant dean for practice and public policy partnerships at the UConn pharmacy school.<\/p>\n

Because of the increased monitoring and interventions provided during the study, the ability of patients to achieve their therapy goals increased from 63 percent at the study\u2019s start to 91 percent upon the patient\u2019s final meeting with their pharmacist. In terms of cost savings, the study showed an estimated annual saving of $1,123 per patient on medication claims, and $472 per patient on medical, hospital, and emergency department expenses.<\/p>\n

A trusted expert<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLisa Holle\u2019s community education programs promote the role of the pharmacist as an accessible and trusted expert on the safe and appropriate use of medications for patients and their family members,\u201d says Smith. \u201cHer faculty position at Storrs Drug is an example of the School of Pharmacy\u2019s commitment to establishing public-private partnerships that are consistent with UConn\u2019s academic mission of public engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tajudeen says his customers\u2019 response to the outreach program has been overwhelmingly positive. With many doctors struggling to balance caseloads, insurance requirements, and other demands, he says, patients are looking for more health and medication information, and that\u2019s where pharmacists can help. Pharmacists have the skills and knowledge to serve as active members of a coordinated health care team, working alongside primary care physicians, specialists, and other professionals to ensure that patients receive the highest quality care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe local pharmacy has become a place where people feel comfortable asking questions,\u201d Tajudeen says. \u201cPatients who participate in our counseling services say they do so because they may not have time to do so at a busy doctor\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Equally telling is the feedback Holle received after her fall prevention talk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was excellent,\u201d said Zoma Spivak, one of the attendees. \u201cI learned a lot, and I think it\u2019s great that we have an opportunity to talk about these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josef Gugler was also impressed. \u201cIt\u2019s extraordinary what Storrs Drug is doing,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been impressed since the very beginning. Lisa is very knowledgeable; she is very committed, and she connects with people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lisa Holle\u2019s community outreach is a new model for the role of pharmacists in health care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1715,2231,1864],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[44],"class_list":["post-34846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-impact","category-health-well-being","category-pharm"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-27 01:48:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34846"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105323,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34846\/revisions\/105323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34846"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=34846"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=34846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}