Mercury Drug sets up diabetic care corners
Given that the Philippines is currently home to 3.7 million adult patients with diabetes, massive intervention has to be undertaken across various aspects of care.
Dr. Cecilia Jimeno, head of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of the Philippines–Philippine General Hospital, shares her personal view that intensive inter-professional healthcare personnel collaboration is integral to the optimal management of diabetes.
“The doctor as head of the team directs management but the actual effective delivery of such management is contingent on adherence or compliance,” says Jimeno.
Pharmacists serve as one of the frontline healthcare professionals who deal with patients’ medicine-related concerns on a daily basis. Given the significant touch points they have with the patients, pharmacists are in the best position to promote and encourage medication adherence.
At Mercury Drug branches, around three out of 10 walk-in customers purchase medications and supplies for diabetes management for patients and their families, hence continuity of care at the pharmacy level would definitely bring a huge impact to their customers.
As Asia’s most trusted pharmacy chain, Mercury Drug Corporation (MDC) sets the bar high for the country’s
botika industry by ensuring the optimal quality of the products and now, services, they offer.
As the company continues to expand and modernize, Mercury Drug has not forgotten the heart of their business — their pharmacists.
Realizing the role they can play in delivering holistic care for patients with diabetes, MDC collaborated with Dr. Jimeno and Dr. Yolanda Robles, president of the Philippine Pharmacists’ Association (PPhA), in designing a diabetes-training curriculum for their pharmacists.
Around 200 MDC pharmacists have completed a comprehensive training program composed of classroom lectures and practical workshops facilitated by expert endocrinologists and pharmacy experts.
“Empowering Filipino pharmacists through continuing professional education is really one of the priorities of PPhA. The training we designed for Mercury Drug pharmacists is highly specialized as it really defined the role of the community pharmacist in the holistic management of diabetes,” said Dr. Robles.
Dr. Mia Fojas, president of the Philippine Society of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism (PSEDM), also provided direction by harnessing their organization’s expertise on the disease area, “giving guidance to Mercury Drug for the specialized patient offerings involved in this initiative. These include patient education, pneumonia vaccination, equipping them with a clinic directory to facilitate referral of undiagnosed patients to experts. It’s also critical to monitor outcomes of this program so we guide MDC with the metrics that have to be put in place.”
Another crucial partner in the private sector stepped up and strengthened the initiative — MSD in the Philippines, which counts among its chief therapeutic priorities the research and development of best-in-class diabetes drugs.
“Diabetes is one of the most important growing epidemics in Asia that should be addressed seriously. As a global healthcare leader, MSD takes on these alarming challenges through strategic multi-stakeholder collaborative initiatives to promote awareness, prevention, and control, as well as to inspire purposive actions,” says Dr. Beaver Tamesis, managing director of MSD in the Philippines.
With all these in place, the first “Get Well at Mercury Drug Diabetes Care” in the Philippines was born.
In August this year, MDC Ayala Center Glorietta in Makati was the pioneer branch to open Get Well at Mercury Drug Diabetes Care, a diabetes specialty corner, which features a complete assortment of products (i.e., sugar-free food items, clinical nutrition products, diagnostic devices) needed by patients with diabetes.
Trained MDC pharmacists are ready and able to provide patient counseling on diabetes management, which is the first of its kind to be offered in any Filipino drugstore.
“The pharmacist is key in helping to ensure that patients understand not only the characteristics of their drugs, the adverse drug reactions and the instructions on how to take them. Patients with diabetes also have many other questions about various aspects of their disease and pharmacists may be able to answer some of them or at least direct them to reliable sources of information,” Jimeno says. “In the future, they can also be key in the screening for complications and making referrals to other members of the diabetes care team. Pharmacists also have the chance to do opportunistic screening for risk factors among people not yet diagnosed to have diabetes who are buying medications for their indications.”
In time for the celebration of the World Diabetes Day (Nov. 14), Mercury Drug is setting up these specialty diabetes corners in at least 10 branches in Luzon, with the intention of scaling up to Visayas and Mindanao next year.
MDC president Vivian Que-Azcona says, “At the heart of this patient-centered offering are pharmacists who’ve been trained by experts. We want to make things more convenient for patients with diabetes and their families without compromising on the quality of products and counseling that they will receive on site.”