Prescription drug monitoring program use and utility by Washington State pharmacists: A mixed-methods study

To explore factors and situations that influence pharmacists to use the prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) and to characterize actions taken by pharmacists after alarming scenarios from a PDMP query.

Explanatory sequential 2-phase mixed-methods design: (1) cross-sectional Web-based survey of Washington State pharmacists followed by (2) interviews with purposefully selected respondents to explore statistically significant quantitative findings.

The study was conducted in Washington State from September 2018 to February 2019. A total of 967 Washington State pharmacists from various practice settings, including inpatient and outpatient pharmacies, participated. Ten outpatient pharmacists were interviewed in the second phase.

The pharmacists reported the frequency of PDMP use, opinion on the usefulness of PDMP, and action(s) taken after a concerning PDMP report.

The usable response rate for pharmacists with a PDMP account was 17.6% (818/4659), and usable response rate for all pharmacists was 10.4% (967/9263). PDMP use varied by race, practice setting, and employer policy on PDMP use. Among the 818 PDMP users, 396 (48%) used the database at least once during a shift. Frequent PDMP users were more likely to recommend naloxone compared with less frequent users (adjusted odds ratio 1.70 [95% CI 1.09-2.65], P = 0.02). The following 3 interview themes were identified: time, company policy, and red flags.

PDMP has value to pharmacists of all practice settings studied. Frequent PDMP use may facilitate more pharmacist interventions, such as a naloxone prescription.