During my senior year in pharmacy school, one of the most important lessons drilled into me was to look at the bigger picture. As a young professional, I naturally tended to look at individual data points like lab values and then make recommendations. Generally speaking, this is a not seeing the forest for the trees type problem. With time, practice, and maturity, I have become much better at evaluating the patient as a whole and not just seeing them as a group of numbers.
This skill is applicable to many different arenas in life, and a gentle reminder is sometimes needed to refocus our priorities. I was participating in conference call discussing the implementation of a new high performing network that launched in Iowa. The discussion was centered on the various metrics being used to assess the performance of pharmacies when the Vice President of Pharmacy Operations for the sponsoring payor made an astute observation to the group of pharmacists. He noted:
[custom_blockquote style=”red”] I am concerned that the pharmacies here are focusing too much on the metrics and not enough on transforming their practices. [/custom_blockquote]
He could not have been be more succinct. Today, pharmacists and pharmacies are being pushed to perform, and are being evaluated using arbitrary metrics like the EQuIPP measures. But actual performance in the context of healthcare is not easily measured using simple metrics. Too often pharmacists are looking for ways to move a number in the desired direction. Doing this risks losing sight of the ultimate goal, optimizing each patient’s drug regimen. But by simply moving a measure does not equate to a patient receiving better care.
So it is time for pharmacists to take a step back. Take in the vastness of the forest around us. Focus on transforming your pharmacy practice. Instead of simply filling prescriptions, work to understand your patients’ disease states, their therapeutic outcomes, and goals, and the issues they are having. Working with together with your patients in this way will result in both a more satisfying practice and improved outcomes. Take care of the patient, and the numbers will follow. Make every encounter count starting today.