Training to Advance Comprehensive Medication Management in Practice Essay (Critical Writing)

A decent amount of money, notably $528 billion a year, is being spent on non-optimized medication therapy, which is significantly higher than the spending on drugs. One of the problems is that Americans get receipts from different doctors, and it is hard to indicate what medications they are prescribed due to the absence of structured management. Although physicians are proven specialists with excellent knowledge of medicine, they cannot have an absolute understanding of the different areas of medicine. Another issue is the system where people get prescribed drugs but lack a comprehensive approach to managing the treatment using medications. Moreover, it can be easier for patients to get pills than more effective and specialized treatments such as inhalers. Therefore, it becomes impossible to track every means of treatment and comply with it all together into one picture.

Comprehensive medication management can be an answer to those questions because it suggests that pharmacists, along with physicians, individually work on the formation of the treatment plan for the patient. They assign medications considering the current physical and mental state, other diseases, and additional medications that the person might take. Comprehensive medication review differs from comprehensive medication management because it only observes the medication that has been subscribed to the patient but not the wholesome picture of the treatment. Those who use CMR cannot fully see the situation and adequately prescribe drugs because it is crucial to consider the patient’s state as well.

To increase the spread and implementation of the CMM, there is a need to educate people on that, starting with patients and ending with medical staff. Every team member in medical institutions needs to be trained on the topic to have a clear vision of that approach and successfully implement it. Therefore, it will reduce the overall cost of medical services because patients will not have to turn to the hospitals as often, and it will save a decent amount of money.