OU – Tulsa Pediatric Clinics and Main Pharmacy Collaborate with State Board of Pharmacy

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ACCP member Samie Sabet, Pharm.D., BCPPS, BCPS, describes an interprofessional effort that included ambulatory care and community pharmacists, physicians, clinic administrators, and the state board of pharmacy.  

The Oklahoma University – Tulsa (OU-Tulsa) pediatric clinics utilize nebulized albuterol or albuterol MDI via spacers (sterilized after use) when the use of albuterol is indicated. Due to concerns about promoting aerosolization of COVID-19, clinic staff searched for methods to reduce this risk while also containing costs. OU-Tulsa Pediatrics operates from a main clinic and several satellite sites. The outpatient pharmacy at the main clinic processes prescriptions for inhalers and spacers to be used at the clinic and subsequently taken home. However, some of the satellite clinics do not have a pharmacy. In order to provide inhalers/spacers to satellite clinic patients and reduce the risk of COVID-19 exposure, the team reached out to the Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy to determine if the main clinic pharmacy could provide a limited supply of albuterol MDIs and spacers to have on-hand at the satellite clinics and then remotely process the prescriptions as the need arose. The Board of Pharmacy graciously issued a COVID-19 waiver to allow provision of this service by the main clinic pharmacy.