Who/What is PEARL Rx?

Betty A. Chewning, Ph.D., F. APhAProfessor, UW School of PharmacyDirector, Sonderegger Research Center

PEARL RX

• PEARL Rx: a fledgling network of pharmacists who potentially partner on collaborative projects and research to enhance practice and improve the health of Wisconsin.

• Formed by faculty at the Sonderegger Research Center in the School of Pharmacy.

What is PEARL Rx?

• The Pharmacy Practice Enhancement and Action Research Link is a network to respond quickly to funding announcements. – Modeled on WREN

• Rationale: Increasing funding supports research & demonstrations in health provider networks to improve delivery & outcomes of care.– Pharmacy is under-represented in networks.

History Leading To PEARL

• We built on our prior research– Tobacco Cessation with about 30 community pharmacies

– RCT’s with Walgreens pharmacies on tobacco cessation by dissertator and HBP by Svarstad.

– Class projects with students and pharmacies across state

– Long history of salary & workforce surveys with state pharmacists

• ICTR CAP funding became available 4 years ago. We started with:– WPQC with PSW collaboration

– 340B drug program and community health center network considered

History

• Finally turned to obvious group – Clerkship sites for School of Pharmacy fourth year students– Community, clinic, hospital

• Last spring attended all 6 regional town hall clerkship meetings to recruit

PEARL RX

• Current membership - Over 60 pharmacists in practice throughout state

– Community, clinic, and hospital pharmacies

– Working toward triads within same region

• Seek full range of pharmacist roles

How Link Will Work• Initial quick responder e-mail messages (1-2 per

semester) to assess interest

• Follow-up with interested pharmacists

• Pharmacist partners help plan budget to ensure a project not intrusive or overly burdensome.

• Link is conduit to share resources, project/ practice initiatives & ideas among members

Potential Collaboration Examples

• Medication Reconciliation• Patient Medication Self Management• Health Literacy• Tobacco Cessation• Reducing Preventable Hospitalizations• Clinical Areas (Asthma, HBP, Diabetes,

Warfarin, CHF, Falls of older adults, etc.)• Infectious Disease Prevention, Management

Picture is of Partnership

Tremendous pharmacist potential given:

• Dynamic regimens of multiple meds

• Multiple co-morbidities

• Patient variation around drug use & evaluation

• Multiple prescribers and Patient is coordinator

Just Beginning

• Exploring network member interests

• Hope to fill in triads of site type by region

• Hope to link with other networks’ members by region for collaborative projects of mutual interest

PEARL Rx’s Puzzle

• How best to work with our network members?

• How best to work with other networks?

• Hope to learn from others here.