[Is a migraine screener useful for pharmacists in community pharmacy to distinguish patients with migraine?]

Efforts by Pharmacists in Community Pharmacy in Peacetime for Headache Medical Care in Emergencies, Such as Great Earthquake and Disaster

We herein analyzed the issues that pharmacists in a community pharmacy in peacetime need to prepare for regarding headache medical care in emergencies (the state that supply of medical supplies is difficult) using a questionnaire intended for doctors and pharmacists in a community pharmacy. Recovery rates were 48.0% (96/200) for doctors and 37.3% (112/300) for pharmacists. In order to distinguish between patients for whom pharmacists need to "recommend OTC drugs" and those who need to be encouraged "to consult a hospital or clinic", doctors indicated that pharmacists need to use an "assistance tool to diagnosis headaches, such as a migraine screener" and "guidelines for chronic headaches". However, few pharmacists used these tools. Approximately 66.7% of doctors indicated that it is "meaningful" for pharmacists to distinguish patients with headaches. Moreover, doctors indicated the need for guidance by pharmacists in peacetime regarding headache medical care in emergencies. Although 73.2% of pharmacists instructed the patients with headaches of the importance of medication notebooks in emergencies, guidance ("understanding the triggers of headaches", "understanding the importance of removing the cause of the headache", "standing OTC drugs" and "standing prescription drugs") by pharmacists to prepare for an emergency was insufficient. These results provide useful information to improve the efforts by pharmacists in community pharmacies in peacetime for headache medical care in emergencies.

Community pharmacy: an untapped patient data resource

As community pharmacy services become more patient centered, they will be increasingly reliant on access to good quality patient information. This review describes how the information that is currently available in community pharmacies can be used to enhance service delivery and patient care. With integration of community pharmacy and medical practice records on the horizon, the opportunities this will provide are also considered. The community pharmacy held patient medication record, which is the central information repository and has been used to identify non-adherence, prompts the pharmacist to clinically review prescriptions, identify patients for additional services, and identify those patients at greater risk of adverse drug events. While active recording of patient consultations for treatment over the counter may improve the quality of consultations and information held, the lost benefits of anonymity afforded by community pharmacies need to be considered. Recording of pharmacy staff activities enables the workload to be monitored, remuneration to be justified, critical incidents to be learned from, but is not routine practice. Centralization of records between community pharmacies enables practices to be compared and consistent problems to be identified. By integrating pharmacy and medical practice records, patient behavior with respect to medicines can be more closely monitored and should prevent duplication of effort. When using patient information stored in a community pharmacy, it is, however, important to consider the reason why the information was recorded in the first instance and whether it is appropriate to use it for a different purpose without additional patient consent. Currently, community pharmacies have access to large amounts of information, which, if stored and used appropriately, can significantly enhance the quality of provided services and patient care. Integrating the records increases opportunities to enhance patient care yet further. While community pharmacies have significant amounts of information available to them, this is frequently untapped.