AmCare at the VA

Hello, all,
My name is Garret Smith an incoming P4 student and I am an intern at the VA Medical Center in Battle Creek Michigan. The Medical Center has around 235 inpatient beds most of which are filled with psychiatric patients as well as substance abuse and post traumatic stress disorder patients. Being a Veteran's Affairs hospital the patient population is fairly limited, however it is a population that is needing and deserving of our services.
This summer I will be working with the clinical team in the pharmacist-run ambulatory care clinics. The clinical pharmacists at the VA are in a fairly unique position in that they have prescriptive authority for their patients! Clinics are offered in anticoagulation, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes. If a veteran has one or more of the aforementioned conditions their physician can refer them to our clinic where we the pharmacists are in charge of all their medications related to those conditions.
Using this team approach much of the patient load is shifted off of the primary care physician and patient care is greatly improved since we can see patients much more frequently than 3 to 6 month wait to see the doc.
Today was my first day, so stay tuned for more info on our clinics as I delve deeper into the VA system!
-Garret