SELF CARE CONSULTATION SERVICES

STEP 1:
Defination:
Self-care has been defined as "a process whereby a lay person can function effectively on his or
her own behalf in health promotion and decision making, in disease prevention, detection, and
treatment at the level of the primary health resource in the health care system. Self-care
consulting represents a value-added service that can be both professionally and economically
rewarding for the pharmacist and of great importance to the patient's overall health care
management. Self-care consultants are community-based pharmacist who interfaces with patients
requesting health information, advice, or counseling.

Mission statement:
We believe that the most important people involved in patient healthcare are the patients
themselves. This is why we invite the patients to take care of their own health. We believe that
by educating patients about their conditions in an accepting environment, as well as equipping
them with proven and successful strategies to look after their health we can improve health
outcomes and foster happier and stronger communities.
“Being sufficiently proficient at the basics of assessment and evaluation to measure
patients' parameters, we will provide information, advice, and counsel regarding drugs,
supplies, and equipments such as self-testing kits and monitoring devices to patients for
self-care monitoring and decision making.”

STEP 2
Market Analysis:
TARGET Health needs
POPULATION
young adults Contraception and reproductive health care; AIDS prevention;
acne, diet, and nutrition aids

SWOT Analysis:
Strengths
 All the equipments, devices necessary for health investigation are readily accessible in
our pharmacy.
 Availability of proficient staff (such as pharmacotherapy specialist) as well as staff
training will be provided
 Pharmacist meet up with individual patients allows to build trust-worthy relationship.
 Provision of friendly and quality service in collaboration with patients.
Weaknesses
 Potential of conflict and disagreement (embracing new ideas or work hours) between
management and staff.
 Patient could view more time at the pharmacy as a waste of time

Opportunities:
 Innovative idea—there will be reduced competition in the market
 Community demands for identification of unmet health care needs
 Physical environment of community pharmacy facilitates the pharmacist’s consultation
role

Threats:
 Language barrier may exist between pharmacist and patient
 Traditional beliefs among people in society may act as barrier for the provision of self
consultation service (particularly dealing with AIDS)
 Profitability may be limited as the program is new and most people will not be willing to
pay for cognitive services provided by the pharmacist

STEP 3
Competitor Analysis:
We hope that there will be less competitive threats to our business program because:
 We are having an extensive customer list in the premises of the pharmacy
 Our qualified management team and consultant pharmacists having in depth knowledge
of the services provided are ready to cope up with actual or potential competitors

STEP 4
Professional and regulatory standards:
1. License:
 A license is needed to open and operate a community pharmacy. This can be provided by
the national authority.
2. Pharmacist competency:
 Pharmacists need to have a professional qualification issued from an accredited
university.
 Community pharmacy practice requires ever-increasing interactions with patients during
dispensing, counselling and other services, linguistic competency is usually a requirement
applicable to all pharmacists.
3. Ethical practice:
  Pharmacist must be of good conduct, behavior and attitude.

To ensure compliance with regulatory and professional requirements:

 By hiring the qualified and trained staff
 Maintaining records of patient interactions and recommendations (e.g; Record of Self-
care Consultation). This procedure will also promote a perception in patient’s mind that a
valuable health care service is being provided that will lead to patient satisfaction.
 Code of ethics covering different aspects of pharmacy practice such as continuity of care;
the relationship between pharmacist, patient and other health care professionals and
professional confidentiality are being fulfilled by the pharmacists.

STEP 5
Operation and Day – to – Day Activity:
 To perform the day to day activities, one pharmacist will be available to focus on
dispensing and the other focuses on counselling and serving the needs of the customers.
Pharmacy opening hour will be Mon to Fri 8am-8pm, Sat and Sun 9am-4pm. These hours
are longer during the week and weekends, compared to other local pharmacies. At least
one pharmacist will be available on site during all opening hours and two pharmacists
from 9am to 6pm on weekdays. They are available to offer holistic counselling and
effective education on lifestyle, medication management and corresponding
supplementation.
 Appropriately trained support personnel can save the pharmacist time by answering
routine questions, for example, concerning store hours, product availability, and product
cos
 The pharmacy incorporates a consultation room including equipment necessary to assess
the client’s overall health. Such equipment includes a blood pressure monitor, BMI
weight machines, cholesterol and glucometers. This room aims to provide a relaxed
environment with couches where the pharmacist and clients can communicate
comfortably and openly. The Information Technology system of the pharmacy consists of
computers for dispensing and office use.

STEP 6
Marketing Plan:
 Various marketing strategies can be employed to get recognition from the community.
  Regular Newspaper advertising in an eye catching design can also provides information
about our services, products and helps in attracting the target population.
 Developing a brochure that can be provided to current and potential patients. We can
stress the convenience, confidentiality, and cost-effectiveness of service provided. The
following statement may be incorporated that will indicate a problem oriented approach
rather than a product-oriented approach. For example, saying that "Effective treatments
for nutritional deficiencies are available with the pharmacist's consultation," is better than
saying "Several nutritional supplements are available.”
 In addition to distributing self-care brochures, they can obtain and distribute other health
literature that is available free or at nominal cost from pharmaceutical companies and
health organizations. Developing a health information center within the pharmacy helps
communicate to consumers that the pharmacist is able and willing to assist them with
minor health problems.
 Pharmacy may incorporate patient friendly material explaining their consultation services
on their websites for both current patients and patients who are searching the internet
looking for health care services.

STEP 7
Financial Projections:
The pricing possibilities are limitless. One of the four examples show approaches to charging
the patient for self-care service are :
• Charge 200Rs. for the product and a separate 100Rs. consulting fee. Charge 200Rs. for a
product refill.
• Charge 400Rs. for the product (no separate consulting fee) and tell the patient the cost of a
refill will be only 200Rs. (representing a future savings of 100Rs. and encouraging a reorder).
• Contract with area groups (e.g., employers, health maintenance organizations) to provide self-
care-consulting services at a flat rate of 100Rs. plus the product's sales price. Charge for
documented patient encounters even if a product is not recommended or sold.
• Contract with these groups to provide self-care-consulting services at a flat rate of 400Rs. ,
which may include one product. Make the charge, even if a product is not recommended.
Alternatively, agree to provide self-care services to eligible persons at a specified capitated rate,
with the understanding that product costs will be reimbursed separately.

Expenses:
The Expenses may include:
 Salaries and Wages, Rent Paid, Computer Expenses, Electricity, Water, Heating, Repairs,
Maintenance, Service, Telephone, Training, Workers compensation and other expenses.

STEP 8
Action Plan:
 Self-care consulting practice focuses on what products and services consumers needs.
The pharmacist spend more time with individual patients to make an active difference in
their lives. One of the easiest methods is for the pharmacist to spend a few minutes
patrolling the area in which nonprescription drugs are displayed. When consumers see
that the pharmacist is accessible, they will often ask questions. It is also appropriate for
the pharmacist to say, "May I help you find something?"
 Generally patients only retain 10% of counselling points that pharmacists give and this
would decrease further with lower health literacy. We will use visual aids that have been
found to increase retention of information. Several programs and applications can help
pharmacist incorporating visual aids to provide information about diseases, how drugs
work and complementary herbal products. For example, ACE inhibitors and Angiotensin
II receptor blockers alongside thiazides cause zinc deficiency, making supplementation
essential. This could be beneficial in hypertensive patients as zinc only stays in the body
for three to four days, and is vital to endothelial and arterial wall integrity.
 Consultations also involve a discussion about the patient's lifestyle such as drinking,
smoking, diet and weight loss. During these consultations we measure and record this
information so that both the pharmacist and patient can access and track progress. We
also measure the patient’s BMI, cholesterol, blood pressure, glucose levels which we
record consistently and explain to the patient. If the patient wants a more individualized
approach in terms of diet, our pharmacists are able to devise a tailored care plan and for
which we will charge extra fee.
 The number of customers served each day can be analyzed to determine if our goals are
being met and our service is effectively reaching our clients.

STEP 9
Critical Risks and Risk Mnagement:
The risk may include any harm to the patients and users of pharmacy services. Individual
circumstances in pharmacy may be taken in to account In order to keep these risks as low as
possible. These include:
 The services that the pharmacy provides
 The staff working there and their knowledge and experience
 The scale and nature of activity
 The likelihood of something going wrong
 The number of people potentially affected by it
 The likely impact on the patient or service user, taking into consideration their health and
vulnerability
 By continually using risk assessment for different activities and services, and collecting
information from patients and from concerns and other feedback the risks can be reduced
further.
STEP 10
Exit plan:
3 options for pharmacy exit strategy includes:
 Sell the pharmacy to an insider, sell to an outsider or liquidate. Each one of these options
has its positives and pitfalls. An insider could be family members in the business, a
junior pharmacist or another employee/employees. An outsider could be another
independent pharmacist, family members not in the business, a chain store pharmacist
looking for independent direction. Assembling a team of trusted advisors to develop the
best possible exit strategy.

Exit strategy:
Effective exit strategy planning include the following elements:
 A thorough review of the current financial status of the business sales, profits and trends
over the past three years.
 A review of the marketplace, to ascertain your competitive position and value to a
purchaser
 Most importantly of all, the development of a reasonable time line to make it all happen,
in order to exit successfully.