Dr. Miller is an assistant clinical professor at Northeastern University, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Department of Pharmacy and Health Systems Sciences, in Boston, Massachusetts. At the time this research was conducted, she was a primary care resident at the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System. Dr. Harvey is a pain management clinical pharmacist, Pharmacy Service, at the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System in Florida.
Furthermore, future research may be warranted to determine the prospective role of a pain specialty pharmacist on longitudinal measures, such as pain outcomes, patient satisfaction, improvement in quality of life and/or function, as well as to determine provider perspective and satisfaction of the program. Finally, it would be interesting to compare and contrast the recommendations and outcomes between the pharmacist and physician team at the BPVAHCS.
Conclusion
The addition of a pain specialty pharmacist as part of the E-Consult Pain Service seems to provide support to prescribing PCPs in general chronic pain management, as well as measuring improved adherence to VA/DoD guidelines for chronic pain.
Acknowledgments This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System.
Author disclosures The authors report no actual or potential conflicts of interest with regard to this article.
Disclaimer The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Federal Practitioner, Frontline Medical Communications Inc., the U.S. Government, or any of its agencies. This article may discuss unlabeled or investigational use of certain drugs. Please review the complete prescribing information for specific drugs or drug combinations—including indications, contraindications, warnings, and adverse effects—before administering pharmacologic therapy to patients.