“During this time, when patients are hesitant to see their provider, these services are helping put patients at ease while enabling the prescribers to still care for their patients.”

McWhorter School of Pharmacy alumnus Austin Crocker ’17 works as a clinical pharmacist for G&M Pharmacy in Oxford, Mississippi. In his role, he partners with local prescribers to provide preventative services for patients—work that has become even more critical during this global pandemic as hospitals and health systems are inundated.

The two pharmacy services, Crocker explains, that have proven to be extremely valuable are: chronic care management and remote patient monitoring.

“We, as pharmacists, contact the prescribers' patients at least once a month to check in on them to discuss their medications and medical conditions,” he said.

Remote patient monitoring takes patient care a step further. “Patients are given blood pressure cuffs that transmit the readings to us at the clinic automatically,” Crocker said. “This enables us to follow the patients more closely to identify troublesome trends and make an intervention before an adverse health event occurs.”

Joseph Nosser ’19 is working alongside Crocker as a PGY1 community pharmacy resident, assisting him with these services.