Assisted consultations in community pharmacies

HUG@home in pharmacy is an assisted teleconsultation service that enables patients to access medical consultations with a Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) physician with the assistance of a pharmacist, directly from a community pharmacy.

A telemedicine project implemented in community pharmacies

When a patient visiting a community pharmacy has a health concern and their general practitioner (GP) is unavailable, the pharmacy team can assess their needs and, when appropriate, organize and assist with a medical teleconsultation.

The service combines the accessibility and expertise of pharmacists with remote medical expertise, offering patients an additional pathway to timely and coordinated care.

HUG@home in pharmacies addresses several aims:

• Facilitate timely access to medical expertise;
• Strengthen collaboration between patients, pharmacists and physicians;
• Provide an alternative care pathway when a patient's GP is unavailable;
• Contribute to reducing unnecessary use of emergency services.

This service is currently available in more than 20 community pharmacies across the Canton of Geneva.

Who can use the service?

HUG@home in pharmacy may be offered to patients who:

• Are 16 years of age or older;
• Do not present a life-threatening emergency;
• Do not have symptoms related to pregnancy or to psychiatric conditions.

Our project

Using an implementation science approach, we aim to assess, through complementary quantitative and qualitative methods:

• Acceptability and adoption of the service;
• Patient and healthcare professional experiences;
• Collaboration between pharmacists and physicians;
• Feasibility of integration into pharmacy workflows;
• Barriers and facilitators to the service’s implementation.
• Economic impact on the healthcare system

Project partners and support

HUG@home in pharmacies is supported by the Canton of Geneva's Digital Health Program (Programme Santé Numérique), the Foundation for Training and Research in Pharmacy (pharmaSuisse), the Faculty of Science of the University of Geneva, and Pharma24.

More information here