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New video-conferencing technology in QicScript to improve pharmacist/patient communication
21 November 2006 – Systems Solutions Limited has incorporated state-of-the-art video-conferencing functionality into its flagship QicScript® PMR dispensary system.
The first of its kind in any pharmacy application in Europe, QicScript’s video-conferencing capability has the potential to be used in a variety of different ways. It is envisaged that it will be mainly used as a mechanism for pharmacy chains to link patients with specific needs to pharmacists that have the skills necessary to serve these patients effectively.
For example, deaf people or people with lack of fluency in English are most at risk from ineffective communications, which may impede their understanding of their medication, medical conditions and treatment. With QicScript’s video-conferencing module, pharmacy chains can link people with communication difficulties to pharmacists within their entire chain that possess these specific language skills. Through its face-to-face interactive capability, QicScript’s video-conferencing functionality can even be used to deliver a Medicines Use Review to patients that require specialist language or knowledge skills.
David Raethorne, Systems Solutions’ founding technical director, explains the reasons behind developing such an innovative use of pharmacy technology: “The crux of the matter is that pharmacists are tasked with ensuring that all people, irrespective of their language fluency or ability, understand their medication, its instructions and their overall treatment. If communication fails for any reason, whether it’s due to the pharmacist being unable to speak the patient’s language or sign effectively, then patients must either depend on the intervention of an interpreter or will leave the pharmacy with an incomplete knowledge of their medication and treatment, and that’s just not good enough.”
The company envisages that the ultimate beneficiary of this type of system will be the patient by ensuring they understand and comply with their medication therapeutic programmes. Video-conferencing also delivers crucial pharmacy advisory services to these patients in their own locality without forcing them to travel out of their way to visit these pharmacists.
The pharmacy chain also benefits from delivering a valued service to patients by simply utilising the resources of the entire pharmacy chain as opposed to the limited resources of an individual pharmacy. In addition, the company also claims that video-conferencing can be used as a training tool to deliver training sessions to staff members in multiple locations, saving the pharmacy chain the time and hassle of disrupting their pharmacists’ busy working days.
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