University of British Columbia. Canada: UBC Pharmacists Clinic helps headache sufferers find relief before their first specialist appointment. For patients dealing with chronic, debilitating headaches, the wait to be seen by the UBC Headache Clinic can seem like an eternity. But a new partnership with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences is helping patients before they even step foot inside the clinic.
Now, patients can jump-start their treatment with an initial
consultation at the UBC Pharmacists Clinic. Opened in November 2013, it
is Canada’s first university-affiliated, licensed, pharmacist-led
patient care clinic, and it’s making a huge difference to the lives of
headache sufferers.
Dr. Sian Spacey of the new clinic explains how it works.
“Before my patients see me, they have an hour-long appointment with a
pharmacist,” explains Spacey. “They review their symptoms and all of
their medications, discuss how they can more effectively take them, and
they also talk to them about lifestyle issues. They summarize all that
information, so that I have a complete list of medications that the
patient has ever been on and is currently on.”
The partnership began as a pilot project in June. After reviewing its
effectiveness, it, became the new standard of care for Headache Clinic
patients. To date, 25 of the clinic’s patients have come through the
Pharmacists Clinic.
Spacey says in a number of cases, patients began seeing an
improvement in their symptoms before their initial doctor’s appointment.
“One of the wonderful things I’ve seen is that by the time they have
an appointment with me, some patients have had their headaches reduce
dramatically, just by being counselled by the pharmacist about how to
take their medication properly,” she says, noting that while migraine is
more common than diabetes and asthma combined, it’s also a very
treatable condition.
Pharmacist Jason Min calls the partnership with the Headache Clinic a natural collaboration.
“Headache management can be very medication-heavy,” he says. “There
are medications that can cause headaches and medications that can help
prevent and treat headaches. It can get very complicated, especially
when there are medications that patients can self-select off of any
pharmacy counter or shelf.”
Headaches related to overuse of over-the-counter drugs are a common
issue, says Min. “The other area where we have made contributions is all
the non-drug measures. We talk to patients about caffeine intake, sleep
regulation. We also talk a lot about natural supplements that have
efficacy that are recommended in the Canadian headache guidelines.”
Not only does the pharmacist consultation help patients tackle some
of the root causes of their headaches, it also enhances what can be
accomplished when they first meet with Spacey.
“We can focus on other things, instead of spending all the time
collecting information about medications,” says Spacey. “By introducing a
combination of lifestyle changes and supplements and medication, we can
really dramatically change people’s quality of life. That initial
consultation with the pharmacist really makes the appointment with me a
lot more effective.”
