Dr Neal Dave: Positive Quality Interventions Improve Patient Interactions and Outcomes

The purpose of using Positive Quality Interventions (PQIs) is to create a more positive patient experience and better outcomes, explained Neal Dave, PharmD, pharmacy manager for Texas Oncology and chair of the PQI initiative for National Community Oncology Dispensing Association (NCODA).

Transcript

What are Positive Quality Interventions (PQI) and the purpose of NCODA's PQI initiative?

PQI stands for Positive Quality Interventions, and, basically, we try to create documents or create an intervention that pharmacy, nursing, pharmacy technicians can make that would create a positive impact for a patient.

For instance, the first PQI that we had at NCODA was based on, you get a prescription for aromatase inhibitor—this is a few years ago, and at that time a new drug had just come out that you could add on to the aromatase inhibitor—and, so, the advantage of NCODA pharmacists and nurses is we have access to the electronic medical record, we can look at the patient, we can look at the profile, we can say, “Hey, this person, we’re getting a prescription for an aromatase inhibitor, they’re probably a candidate for this other drug.” And the process is written down and there is backing for the pharmacist, so they don’t have to go look around for the data; they can take that 1 sheet, go to the physician and say, “Hey, should we get this other prescription sent to us?”

And that, ultimately, leads to a positive patient interaction and better patient outcomes. That’s an example of a PQI. Not all of them are exactly like that, but all of them are patient focused Our end goal is to take care of patients better and share information. That’s the main goals for the Positive Quality Interventions.