Pharmacist Role in Chronic Disease Medication Management During Disaster Response

Service or Program: Pharmacists Response Network

Justification/Documentation:    An estimated 50% of the patient population in the United States experiences at least one form of chronic disease in their lifetime. During disasters displaced patients may lose access to chronic care medications, which may lead to disease exacerbations. Disaster survivors are often left without access to medications leading to disease exacerbations, which subsequently may lead to costly Emergency Department (ED) and hospital admissions for critical conditions such as stroke and myocardial infarction.

Transferability:    Chronic disease management in disaster response has not been a primary focus. Through PRN, pharmacists have the ability to fulfill this unmet need at a local, state and national level through integration of their chronic disease management capabilities within the emergency management infrastructure.

Impact:    To address this gap in care, Pharmacists Response Network (PRN) was formed under the Washington State Pharmacy Association (WSPA) to utilize volunteer pharmacists to provide prescriptions for chronic care medications during disasters. The goal of PRN is to prevent ED visits for medication refills, and hospital admissions subsequent to disease exacerbations from lack of access to chronic care medications. All volunteer pharmacists will be registered through the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). Current partners include the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), the MRC, and the American Red Cross.

PRN will provide refill services for the following disease states utilizing collaborative drug therapy agreements: hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart diseases, anticoagulation, seizure disorders, asthma/COPD and mood disorders. In a given disaster, PRN will deploy pharmacists and student pharmacists to shelter sites where student pharmacists will triage and register patients. After capturing and documenting vital signs, eligible patients will be seen by a pharmacist for 10 to 15 minutes for assessment, prescriptions for medication refills, and medication counseling. Patients discharged with prescriptions for medication refills may fill them at any major retail pharmacy.