Independent Corner: The Importance of Communication

Community Pharmacy Consultant Bruce Kneeland speaks with Kevin DeMass, RPh, President of Apothecary Shoppe, Salt Lake City, UT, discusses communication with patients' caregivers and family members.

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Bruce Kneeland: I suspect with the kind of patients that you’re dealing with, a family member or a caregiver is an important person to communicate with as well.

Kevin DeMass, RPh: They’re very important because we’re in that kind of part of town where we have a lot of aging. In fact we have the Salt Lake Senior Center which is right here in our facility. So we do handle a lot of calls almost every single day from a caregiver, who’s caring for a parent or caring for a neighbor or caring for a family member. And they’re very confused about their medication, they have their own medication and then they come over to their sister’s home and they have no idea what’s going on. They weren’t at the doctor’s appointment and they know that they might be sick or might have a certain disease state, but they don’t see the whole picture of what that patient is. So we communicate with them all the time say ‘This is what you should expect.’ It’s a great, rewarding relationship.