Barksdale Pharmacies increase efficiency, safety

BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- The 2nd Medical Group main clinic Pharmacy and satellite Pharmacy, located at the Base Exchange, are making changes to increase patient satisfaction, efficiency and medication use safety.

Starting Nov. 1, the hours of operation for the satellite Pharmacy will change to 7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday to Friday; opening and closing an hour earlier than before. We will still be closed the second Thursday of each month at noon for training and closed on weekends and holidays. We are making this change due to minimal use of our pharmacy in the late afternoon hours and to accommodate patients who are waiting for us to open in the morning. This will also allow more pharmacy personnel to work in the early hours of the day when it is busier compared to the later hours, thus reducing patient wait times.

Also starting Nov. 1, our main clinic Pharmacy will no longer accept prescriptions from off-base providers. All off-base prescriptions will be processed at the satellite Pharmacy. All called-in refills will continue to be processed and picked up from the satellite Pharmacy. We are shifting all off-base prescriptions to the Satellite Pharmacy to streamline and centralize civilian prescription operations to one location and optimize pharmacy staffing and resources. This will also help minimize errors because our satellite Pharmacy is larger, better designed and has higher utilization of state of the art robotic bar code scanning equipment technology.

In addition, when you arrive at the Pharmacy to check-in, a member of our staff will now review your order prior to it being filled and go over any issues. To enhance patient safety and avoid unnecessary delays, we will screen for any medication interactions, allergies, availability or if it's too soon to refill.

Also, within the next couple weeks, there will be secure prescription drop-off boxes installed outside the doors and the drive thru of the satellite Pharmacy. Prescriptions may be placed inside one of the provided envelopes and dropped into the secure boxes 24/7. Boxes will be checked the morning of the next duty day, and prescriptions will be ready for pick up after 2 p.m. that same day.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve you and for your patience and understanding as we optimize our operations to make it better for our patients.