Innovator: Pascale Arsenault awarded for telepharmacy effort

Initially, Pascale Arsenault was looking to solve a problem. Pharmacist owner of a large-volume pharmacy, under the Jean Coutu banner in Trois-Rivières, she was tired of refusing applications from pharmacists. “We lacked space in the laboratory, so we thought about working differently to make room for them,” explains the 30-year-old. Her goal was also to give colleagues more time to for clinical care, which required the creation of confidential spaces to see patients.After successfully experimenting with teleworking, before and during the pandemic, she gradually launched the Pascale Arsenault Telepharmacy (TPA) in June 2022, a platform for pharmaceutical services available to Jean Coutu pharmacies Coutu. This initiative won over the jury of the 2023 Health Profession Awards for the Innovative Practice category. Read: Amazon will start testing drones that will drop prescriptions on your doorstep, literally“It’s a great honor for the whole team more than for me,” says Arsenault, referring to “all these people who believed in this project and who worked hard to make it a success.” Today, 15 pharmacists, four clinical nurses and six pharmacy technical assistants work at the TPA. From their home, they can enter prescriptions on demand, analyze them or extend them. They can also offer teleconsultations for the management of chronic illnesses or cases falling under laws 31 and 41, to give travel health advice, carry out clinical follow-ups, do medication reviews, manage hospital discharges etc. “We adapt to the needs of our members who can delegate to us seven days a week anything that increases their workload. Thanks to the bookings platform, we can generally offer their patients an appointment within the hour,” explains Arsenault. The only prerequisite is that they give their consent so the TPA pharmacists can access their patient file via RxPro (the pharmacy software used by all franchisees of the Jean Coutu Group). Read: Myocardial infarction: aspirin reduces the risk of recurrence and death Without the inherent pressure of laboratory work, TPA pharmacists can manage up to 50 files per seven-hour shift. “They work calmly, without distraction, and as we have standardized the support, they are more efficient,” points out the entrepreneur at heart. “We are often a source of example by having a ripple effect on the branch teams.” The services offered by the TPA are mostly provided at no cost to the member pharmacies, says Arsenault, specifying that TPA collects all the fees themselves. “[Patients] are charged $23 for a teleconsultation and our pharmacists earn an average of $23 in fees [for pharmacy services],” she explains. As for patients, they readily get used to telepharmacy. “On the phone, by video or in person, the patient just wants us to be available,” indicates the pharmacist who says compliance rates are at about 90% and calls tend to come from more chronically ill patients. This article was translated from French and originally ran in our sister publication Profession Santé.

Innovator: Pascale Arsenault awarded for telepharmacy effort

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