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Drug therapy assessments by pharmacists
American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy
|June 1, 1980
Summary
Pharmacists effectively assess drug therapy regimens, identifying potential issues comparable to physicians. However, physicians acted on fewer recommended changes, highlighting a gap in implementing pharmacist-identified drug therapy problem resolutions.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacology
- Clinical Pharmacy
- General Medicine
Background:
- Pharmacists play a crucial role in medication management.
- Assessing drug therapy is essential for patient safety and treatment efficacy.
- Collaboration between pharmacists and physicians can optimize patient care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare drug therapy assessments made by pharmacists and primary care physicians.
- To evaluate the concordance between pharmacist recommendations and physician actions.
- To determine the pharmacist's capability in identifying and resolving drug therapy problems.
Main Methods:
- Pharmacists used refill assessment guidelines to evaluate 155 ambulatory patients' drug regimens before physician consultation.
- Pharmacist assessments were compared with physician evaluations and subsequent actions.
- Statistical analysis was performed to determine the significance of differences between assessments and actions.
Main Results:
- Pharmacists recommended changes for 31.0% of drug regimens and identified new problems for 1.9% of patients.
- Physician agreement with pharmacist assessments was not statistically significant (p > 0.2).
- Physicians acted on only 52% of the drug changes suggested by pharmacists, a significant difference (p < 0.005).
Conclusions:
- Pharmacists are adept at detecting drug therapy problems in ambulatory patients.
- Pharmacists can effectively recommend appropriate actions for resolving identified drug therapy issues.
- A significant gap exists between pharmacist recommendations and physician actions, indicating a need for improved interprofessional collaboration.