Working Remotely - Making Remote Work, Work

Christie Nemoto, PharmD, BCACP - Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in The Queen's Health Systems - Queen's Clinically Integrated Physician Network (QCIPN) - talks to us about providing care to patients at a distance and creating an effective work environment at home.

Key Lessons:

• Health professionals had to learn new skills in order to deliver care to patients and interact with colleagues at a distance over the past year.  Remote work became the new norm during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Clinical care models in Hawaii have evolved over the years to support patients at a distance.  Hawaii is an archipelago of islands and access to health care services is enabled by a variety of technologies.
• Pharmacists play a critical role on the healthcare team, even more so in the digital age.
• Remote communications with patients are challenging - particularly written patient education sheets and post-visit summaries.
• Clinicians need to rely on verbal clues (rather than visual clues) to ensure patient understanding.
• When working from home, it's important to create habits and routines that mimic your work at the office such as dressing professionally, starting and stopping the workday in normal work hours, creating a designated workspace, and setting ground rules with family.
• Be creative using remote activities to increase bonding and consistent communication between team members.