Medactionplan.com As a Tool for Patient Education and Medication Management in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Setting

Field: Health Professions (Health Sciences)

Baylor University Medical Center performs approximately 200 Blood and Marrow transplants annually in the inpatient and outpatient settings. The medication regimens prescribed for these patients at discharge are complex, confusing, and often prove overwhelming to patients during the transplant process. In our program, pharmacy staff works in conjunction with the physicians to provide medication education and teaching to transplant patients. We began using MedActionPlan.com, a free web-based tool that allows for the creation of personalized treatment plans for patients and saves their records in a program specific database. Each plan includes images of the medications prescribed, instructions of use, abbreviated drug information for each medication as well as a medication schedule checklist for patient use. This checklist may be used to record adherence, upcoming appointments or other relevant medical information. Plans may be customized to fit individual patient needs and have the option to be translated into Spanish. All medication plans are accessible from any computer by a user specific log-on and password. MedActionPlan.com is secure, and meets all HIPPA requirements and Joint Commission's goals for improving patient safety and education for medication therapy. The web-based program also contains an export function, allowing schedules to be sent directly to patients for their medication managment. These schedules can be customized into regular-print, large-font or wallet-sized versions depending on patient-specific needs. In addition to enhancing communication between the inpatient and outpatient facilities, MedActionPlan.com has empowered our patients and their caregivers to be proactive participants in their healthcare program. Patients are able to quickly refer to a centralized and comprehensive medication profile which allows for significantly improved understanding of, and ultimately, compliance with complex medication regimens. MedActionPlan.com has proved to be a valuable resource and has both enhanced the quality of patient education in our transplant program and improved the continuity of care between inpatient and outpatient settings. Baylor University Medical Center performs approximately 200 Blood and Marrow transplants annually in the inpatient and outpatient settings. The medication regimens prescribed for these patients at discharge are complex, confusing, and often prove overwhelming to patients during the transplant process. In our program, pharmacy staff works in conjunction with the physicians to provide medication education and teaching to transplant patients. We began using MedActionPlan.com, a free web-based tool that allows for the creation of personalized treatment plans for patients and saves their records in a program specific database. Each plan includes images of the medications prescribed, instructions of use, abbreviated drug information for each medication as well as a medication schedule checklist for patient use. This checklist may be used to record adherence, upcoming appointments or other relevant medical information. Plans may be customized to fit individual patient needs and have the option to be translated into Spanish. All medication plans are accessible from any computer by a user specific log-on and password. MedActionPlan.com is secure, and meets all HIPPA requirements and Joint Commission's goals for improving patient safety and education for medication therapy. The web-based program also contains an export function, allowing schedules to be sent directly to patients for their medication managment. These schedules can be customized into regular-print, large-font or wallet-sized versions depending on patient-specific needs. In addition to enhancing communication between the inpatient and outpatient facilities, MedActionPlan.com has empowered our patients and their caregivers to be proactive participants in their healthcare program. Patients are able to quickly refer to a centralized and comprehensive medication profile which allows for significantly improved understanding of, and ultimately, compliance with complex medication regimens. MedActionPlan.com has proved to be a valuable resource and has both enhanced the quality of patient education in our transplant program and improved the continuity of care between inpatient and outpatient settings.