Powerful Partnerships: Sarah Day

Crossing the Ts and Dotting the Is: Pharmacists Dive into Details

When you have 10 facilities and more than 700 residents in the Southcentral and Southeastern states, you can’t miss a single detail in your efforts to provide the highest possible quality of care. Sarah Day, MS-SLP, Vice President of Operations, and her team at Selectis Health pride themselves on attending to the details that keep their residents safe, engaged, comfortable, and living with joy and purpose. They are fortunate to have a pharmacy partner that shares their passion and makes sure that medication delivery, management, and disposal are handled accurately and efficiently.

Meaningful Medications and More
There’s much more to medication administration than getting pills to residents. Many steps are required, and much of it involves quality control, something Day believes PharMerica excels at. “We have a good relationship with the team at PharMerica. They’re very open in their communications, and they make sure everything regarding medications happens the way it should. If we need a medication urgently, we get it. If we have a question, they always come back quickly with an answer,” she said.

• Training and education. “The pharmacists often provide education and training our nurses and other team members need,” Day said. For instance, PharMerica pharmacists have come in and trained the Selectis nursing team on safe and effective IV use. At the same time, if there is an issue that arises – such as a new intervention for a common condition – PharMerica provides onsite in-service programs that bring staff up-to-date and ensure everyone is on the same page. This ongoing availability of support is “huge,” Day said, as turnover is an ongoing challenge, and it’s “incredibly helpful” to have trusted sources of training and education for both new and veteran staff.
• Quality tools and resources. “PharMerica is always helping us with resources that we don’t have to pay for and that we can access right away when we need them. All we have to do is ask, and we get what we need,” Day said. She further noted that PharMerica’s Illuminate education platform is a valuable source of current, trusted information. “It’s important to have a reliable source of information for our teams so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel and spend time developing our own materials and resources on various topics,” she offered.
• Regulatory updates and guidance. Day said, “Because regulations are changing all the time, it is important to have a trusted pharmacy partner to help us navigate new and updated regs, keep our high quality ratings, and avoid survey citations.” For instance, when recent revisions to the State Operations Manual were announced, PharMerica offered webinars with experts providing key details and tips on how to prepare. They also provided articles with practical information as the implementation date for the revised guidance approached.
• Safety. PharMerica provides Day and her team with the expertise to help ensure medications are administered and stored safely. “This gives peace of mind and helps ensure medication safety for residents and staff alike,” said Day.
• Insurance assistance. PharMerica help residents navigate complex insurance plans to reduce costs and improve coverage. Each resident has their own personal billing expert available to them.
• Vaccine support. When it was time for last year’s flu shots, Day and her team didn’t have to worry about a thing. “PharMerica took care of it all. The flu shots were pre-ordered at a good price, and their pharmacists helped with education and promotion around the vaccines,” she said.

Rapid Response, Even in Busy Times
Everyone is extremely busy these days. Facility leaders and team members are all juggling challenges while working to stay on top of trends and embrace innovations and opportunities. The busier people are, the more they need real-time connections. Day said, “If you don’t get a quick response to an email or can’t reach someone in an emergency, it can be frustrating. It can even put our residents at risk. PharMerica knows how important a quick response is.” She added, “PharMerica makes me feel like my buildings are their only buildings. They share our passion for quality care and for keeping every one of our residents safe and living their best possible life every day.”

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