Alumni profile: Greg Batt
Greg Batt grew up in his father’s pharmacy in Twillingate knowing, even as a young boy, that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and become a pharmacist. What he didn’t know then was, despite the family tradition, Greg would end up practicing pharmacy in a non-traditional way. As independent owner of Breakwater Pharmacy and The Cove Clinic in Portugal Cove - St. Philip’s, Greg splits his time between the dispensary and the clinic, evolving the traditional models of both dispensing and professional collaboration along the way.
Natural growth at Breakwater Pharmacy resulted in the need for more space, giving Greg and his team the chance to build their space to suit the recently expanded scope of pharmacy and the subsequent need for more clinical consultation. Most pharmacies are built in a standard assembly line style - with the prescription dropped off at one end, dispensed behind the counter in the middle, and picked up at the other end - with limited pharmacist/ client interaction in the process. While this model works well in many cases for many pharmacists, Greg saw Breakwater’s renovation as an opportunity to reassess his practice to his needs. He reviewed international research on new and best practices in pharmacy and engaged his team in the renovation process, ultimately revamping the work ow at Breakwater Pharmacy.
The most noticeable change was putting pharmacists up at the front of the store, instead of behind the usual raised counter at the back. In this work ow model, pharmacists counsel patients when the prescription is dropped off – before it is lled – giving them the opportunity to identify potential con icts and conduct clinical interventions before dispensing. Patients also get the bene t of direct, immediate access to pharmacists from the get-go, rather than seeing their pharmacist as the last point of contact. The more direct contact between a pharmacist and patient, the better the patient outcomes are likely to be – a key driver behind Greg’s innovative approach to Breakwater Pharmacy’s work flow.
The same is true for his involvement in The Cove Clinic and working with the physicians who practice there.
What started as him being mostly a supporting resource on medications for the physicians evolved to Greg having a more hands-on clinic management role. This allowed Greg and his team to be much more active in patient care. Generally, a pharmacist is engaged after the physician consultation at the point of dispensing, however The Cove Clinic’s collaborative model provides a more proactive role for the pharmacist. Greg and his team are involved and consulted by physicians up front as they make patient diagnosis and treatment decisions, resulting in greater ef ciency for both professions and strong bene ts for their patients.
So, while he can’t remember a time when he didn’t want to follow in his father’s professional footsteps, Greg is undoubtedly making his own path and quite possibly changing the pharmacy footprint in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Greg Batt has been practicing pharmacy for six years. He served as Chair of the Pharmacists Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (PANL) for two years and as Chair of PANL’s Professional Practice Committee. Greg has also received James C. Quick Award from PANL and was involved in writing PANL’s The Pharmacist Option white paper. While in Pharmacy School, Greg was also the recipient of “The Innovation in Patient Care Award” for a callback program he designed and piloted.
This profile was written by the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board.