Pharmacy

IMH’s Pharmacy Department serves patients through the safe, effective, efficient and economical use of medicines with the aim of optimising patient care.

Trained psychiatric pharmacists play an essential role in the use of medicines to improve our patients’ mental health. Pharmacists are part of the mental healthcare team, and are instrumental in managing medication-related issues to complement the holistic care of patients with psychiatric conditions.

Psychiatric pharmacists educate patients and caregivers on the safe and appropriate use of drugs, counsel them on medication compliance, monitor and manage drug side effects, and screen potentially dangerous drug interactions. In addition, they can recommend optimal medication therapy for psychiatric and concurrent medical problems, to enhance treatment outcomes. Pharmacists help facilitate the continuity of care as patients integrate back into the community.

Services

1. Outpatient Pharmacy Services
IMH’s Outpatient Pharmacy provides the following services:

• Reviewing and filling patients’ prescriptions
• Providing medication counselling services to patients on the safe and effective use of their medicines by providing information such as:
• The purpose of the medicines
• The correct use of the medicines
• Drug side effects and interactions
• Advice on managing side effects of drugs
• Sale of health-related materials, such as relaxation CDs and books on mental health.

2. Inpatient Clinical Pharmacy Services
IMH’s Inpatient Pharmacy provides the following services:

• Managing Inpatient Medication Orders
• Supplying medicines to the wards
• Reviewing and filling of patients’ discharge and home leave prescriptions
• Monitoring of Patient's Medication Therapy
  Pharmacists monitor for medication response, manage medicine side effects, screen for potentially dangerous drug interactions, perform therapeutic drug monitoring, review medication therapy for psychiatric and medical problems, provide recommendations to enhance treatment outcomes, and facilitate the continuity of care of patients in the community.

3. Medication Education Sessions
Pharmacists conduct individualised medication counselling, as well as group education to patients and caregivers on the safe and effective use of medicines.

4. Medication Information Service
Pharmacists attend to phone enquiries from staff and patients by providing useful information on concerns related to their medicines, such as their side effects and drug interactions.

5. Brown Bag Service
Pharmacists provide a Brown Bag Service to patients who have excess or old medicines. Patients may be unsure about the safety and/or the appropriate use of these old medicines. Our pharmacists will sort their medicines out and educate patients on them. Expired medicines will be discarded (in an appropriate manner) to ensure that they are not taken and that they do not pose a danger to the environment.

This service is offered at both outpatient and inpatient settings. Members of the public who are interested in this service are also welcome to bring their medicines to the pharmacy for sorting at these times: Monday to Friday (9 am–11 am)

6. Smoking Cessation Programme
This personalised and intensive programme offers smokers with comprehensive motivational support and professional advice to quit smoking over a minimum of 3 sessions. The pharmacist will review the smoking profile and medication history of the smoker, recommend methods to quit smoking, such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), and advise him / her on coping skills and other useful relapse prevention tips. The consultation for this programme is free.

7. Medication Management Service
Pharmacists also provide a Medication Management Service to improve patients’ knowledge of their psychiatric medications, optimise their treatment outcomes and improve medication adherence rates through medication counselling and/or interventions with their doctors. This service is currently provided at our Community Wellness Clinic (CWC).

The Medication Management Service comprises the following:

• Reviewing the appropriateness of medication regimes.
• Identifying treatment-emergent problems, such as medicine side effects, adherence issues to taking their medications, as well as monitoring outcomes of interactions between their psychiatric and non-psychiatric medicines.
• Simplifying complex medication regimes in consultation with the patient’s doctor.
• Providing psycho-education to help patients improve their understanding of their psychiatric medicines.

Operating Hours