A new smartphone app is here to help you manage your patients’ over-the-counter (OTC) needs.
The Medicyne app, which you can download for free from the iTunes store, asks a series of questions to guide patients toward the right OTC medications for their symptoms.
“Navigating the OTC aisle is a big challenge for patients,” said Anthony Do, Pharm.D, creator of the Medicyne app and founder and CEO of Medicyne Corp. “It can be difficult for patients to find the right product for their symptoms, but the Medicyne app can help them find exactly what they should buy.”
“It takes into account not only their symptoms, but their demographics as well, and screens for potential interactions with food, diseases or other medications,” he said.
Whether you’re looking to boost OTC sales, improve your product recommendations or free up time to spend on other pharmacy services, the Medicyne app can help. Here are three ways you can use the Medicyne app in your pharmacy.
1. See the whole picture
In a conversation with a patient, it’s easy to miss some of the smaller details.
“As a pharmacist, I certainly can’t remember all the possible screening questions from the top of my head,” Do said. “The Medicyne app helps me screen my patients.”
Do said he views the Medicyne app as an extension of the pharmacist. With it, you know you’re getting the whole picture and don’t have to worry about missing anything important.
2. Improve pharmacist recommendations
As a pharmacist, you likely have your own list of go-to OTC products, but it can be hard to know if your favorites are always right for your patients. Using the Medicyne app can help you weed out products, making it easier to help your patients.
“The app captures all essential data from the patients and flags any serious signs or symptoms, which I can use to make more informed recommendations to my patients,” Do said.
It can make your job easier, but it’s not doing your job for you.
“A machine cannot replace the clinical judgment of a pharmacist,” Do said. “But it can help us work more efficiently and effectively to provide better care to our patients.”
3. Provide better patient care
The Medicyne app can help pharmacists provide better overall care to patients by freeing up time to provide additional services, such as medication therapy management (MTM) or medication synchronization services.
And, Medicyne aims to help patients develop a better understanding of how their medications work, and why it’s important to use the right product.
“The app not only saves pharmacists time, but it can also improve patient safety,” Do said.
Try using the Medicyne app in your pharmacy today, and let it help you help patients. You can download the Medicyne app to an iPod touch, iPad or iPhone for free from the iTunes store.
