What Does It Mean to Be a Long-Term Care Pharmacy?
A long-term care pharmacy provides pharmacy services to the residents of long-term care facilities and similar communities. In addition to pharmacy services, long-term care pharmacies offer consultations and training classes to staff and residents. As the facility’s pharmaceutical partner, the long-term care pharmacy serves residents and staff members with medications, deliveries, chart reviews, educational services, consulting services, and more for the health and well-being of the patients and those who take care of them.
What Facilities Can a Long-Term Care Pharmacy Serve?
A long-term care pharmacy can partner with any community that serves residents on a long-term basis, including:
- Assisted living communities
- Skilled nursing facilities
- Hospice care
- IDD Group homes
- Personal care homes
- Correctional facilities
Is a Long-Term Care Pharmacy Accessible to the Public?
No, a long-term care pharmacy is also known as a closed-door pharmacy, meaning it is not open to the general public the way a retail pharmacy is. A long-term care pharmacy serves only its partner facilities so that the pharmacists and staff can dedicate their attention to the needs of the residents and staff members of the facilities they serve.
Long-term care facilities like nursing homes or assisted living communities each have distinctive needs that require a unique approach to pharmaceutical care. It’s more than filling prescriptions and delivering medications—these facilities also require routine chart reviews, medication inspections and reviews, educational services, cart inspections, and more to ensure their operations comply with all state-level and federal-level requirements. To ensure the pharmaceutical needs of these facilities are managed and handled properly, long-term care pharmacies dedicate all their focus to being a facility partner.
What Services Can a Long-Term Care Pharmacy Provide?
Long-term care pharmacies are available for a variety of services, including:
- Prescription filling for all residents
- Compliance packaging
- Patient education
- Staff education
- Pharmacy consultation services
- Medication inspections
- Chart reviews
- Medication cart evaluations
- Vaccination services
Among others.
What Are the Benefits of Partnering With a Long-Term Care Pharmacy?
Facilities like nursing homes, assisted living communities, group homes, and others can experience several benefits and advantages by partnering with a long-term care pharmacy:
Improved Healthcare for Residents
The majority of long-term care facilities cater to senior populations and other populations in greater need of medical care. The demand for medical attention among residents is already high, and it can increase even more without attentive pharmaceutical services that support positive outcomes and focus on improving patient health and well-being.
When you choose a trusted long-term care pharmacy to manage your residents’ pharmaceutical needs, you can expect better healthcare management and outcomes across your facility.
Lessened Workloads for Your Nurses and Staff
Your staff works hard to give each resident the attention they require and deserve—and your staff is likely managing a lot of patients. As the senior population continues to grow and more seniors find themselves in need of long-term care, your team can quickly become overwhelmed with daily duties.
Through a partnership with a high-quality long-term care pharmacy, your pharmacist(s) can help mitigate the workload placed on your staff by managing your patients’ pharmaceutical needs on your behalf. This frees your nurses and other clinical staff members to focus their attention on other important matters.
Increased Convenience and Availability
One of the biggest reasons long-term care pharmacies exist is to provide convenient and reliable pharmaceutical care to their partners. Relying on a retail pharmacy does not ensure you can schedule medication deliveries, arrange medication consultations, receive compliance-focused inspections and evaluations, benefit from educational services, or even receive after-hours access to the pharmacy team. But through a partnership with a long-term care pharmacy, you can achieve all of that and more.
Partner pharmacies provide plenty of services that simplify certain processes at your facility and are more accessible than your average pharmacy, making it more convenient to carry out your everyday operations. A long-term care pharmacy takes the pharmaceutical tasks off your plate so that your team can tend to other crucial matters.
Angus Lake Healthcare Is a Long-Term Care Pharmacy Serving Residents, Communities, and Facilities in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
The team at Angus Lake Healthcare provides the pharmaceutical services your facility needs to manage and improve the health of your residents. From prescription filling to compliance packaging, patient education, medication inspections, reviews, vaccinations, and so much more, we take care of your pharmaceutical needs so you can focus on your residents’ health.
To learn more about the capabilities and services that our long-term care pharmacy can provide your facility or group home, schedule a consultation with Angus Lake Healthcare today: 478-233-1828.
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