Training partnership said to help hospital, patients

Evaluating medications prescribed when patients leave facility

MIDDLETOWN — Middlesex Hospital’s Pharmacy Department has expanded its partnership with the University of St. Joseph School of Pharmacy, a move that will benefit patients, physicians and students.

The partnership began in 2011 when Middlesex staff began serving as preceptors for the experiential training of USJ pharmacy students, according to a news release. It expanded in 2016 to provide for the clinical training of additional student pharmacists through the placement of USJ faculty at the hospital.

Now, the partnership includes an initiative that delivers pharmaceutical care in an outpatient setting, focusing on the special needs of patients who may have concurrent illness and are taking multiple medications.

In January, Middlesex Hospital Primary Care welcomed USJ pharmacy students. The students are working with professor Alaina Rotelli on comprehensive medication management.

The students are in their last year of pharmacy school and must complete advanced pharmacy practice rotations before graduation. This new partnership fulfills that requirement for 10 students each year, the release said.

Rotelli and her students meet with patients who visit the Middlesex Hospital Primary Care offices in Middletown and Portland to discuss their medications, and the group will soon offer e-consults for other offices.

For those preparing to see their physician after a hospital stay, Rotelli is looking at medications prescribed upon discharge to ensure that it is appropriate. She and her students are evaluating value-based contracts by weighing medication options. The goal is to increase the quality of care while lowering costs, according to the hospital.

Rotelli and her students are also developing a curriculum that will be used to educate Middlesex physicians, and they are creating a pharmacy newsletter. This will allow doctors to learn about medication from a pharmacist rather than a pharmaceutical company. Dr. Israel Cordero, medical director of Middlesex Hospital Primary Care, cited that as unbiased education.

Contributed photo A group of students from the University of St. Joseph School of Pharmacy taking part in a program at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown. The hospital is expanding its partnership with the university, and said the program benefits the hospital, patients...