Navigating complex patients using an innovative tool: the MTM Spider Web

Abstract

Objective: To introduce a teaching tool that can be used to assess the complexity of medication therapy management (MTM) patients, prioritize appropriate interventions, and design patient-centered care plans for each encounter.

Summary: MTM patients are complex as a result of multiple comorbidities, medications, and socioeconomic and behavioral issues. Pharmacists who provide MTM services are required to synthesize a plethora of information (medical and nonmedical), evaluate and prioritize the clinical problems, and design a comprehensive patient-centered care plan. The MTM Spider Web is a visual tool to facilitate this process. A description is provided regarding how to build the MTM Spider Web using case-based scenarios. This model can be used to teach pharmacists, health professional students, and patients.

Conclusion: The MTM Spider Web is an innovative teaching tool that can be used to teach pharmacists and students how to assess complex patients and design a patient-centered care plan to deliver the most appropriate medication therapy.