collaborative practice collaborative practice - Ontario College of ...

You have to understand
what you both can get
out of the relationship
and work together
towards the ultimate
goal of enhancing
patient care and
improving patient
outcomes.
Pharmacist Sean Simpson
Pharmacist Sean Simpson with pharmacy assistants
Ainslie Beaton (left) and Kim Montgomery (right)
Simpson RPh, who runs Simpson's
Pharmasave in Virgil and Simpson's
Apothecary Pharmasave in Niagara
on the Lake. To Simpson, pharmacists
who yearn to collaborate
with doctors and other health care
professionals should get in the
habit by collaborating within their
own pharmacy.
For instance, in talking to his
pharmacy technicians about
record keeping, he has two routes.
Either tell them what to do, or talk
about what has to be done and
then explore ways to best do it.
“It’s about soliciting feedback from
the people we work with, sharing
objectives and coaching – that’s
collaboration” says Simpson.
Simpson started to set aside time
each Friday afternoon for team
meetings, which look at everything
from scheduling to product
knowledge to waiting times to fill
scripts. “We’re trying to provide
more patient-centred service, and
this creates a forum for discussion,
not just a one-way transfer of
information,” he says.
Collaborating with other professionals
on your own team can
provide a foundation, a mindset,
to foster other sorts of collaborations.
Simpson reminds his team
that this attitude of partnership
should extend to working with
patients. “It’s understanding why,
for instance, they might not want
to take a drug because of the
side effects, or explaining the risks
and benefits of a drug. Maybe
that’s my most important form of
collaboration.”
With anybody – colleagues in the
workplace, patients and outside
health care professionals – here’s
what defines collaboration for
Simpson as a pharmacist. “You
have to understand what you
both can get out of the relationship
and work together towards
the ultimate goal of enhancing
patient care and improving patient
outcomes.”
PHARMACY CONNECTION ~ SPRING 2013 ~ PAGE 19