Pharmacists as nonprescription drug advisors

This field study tested the ability of pharmacists to counsel patients with diabetes mellitus on the contraindicated use of a decongestant. The study was modeled after a 1969 study conducted by Knapp et al. Our simulation used a patient with diabetes who questioned pharmacists initially about proper insulin storage and then asked about the use of Contac (phenylpropanolamine) capsules, which carry a prominent label warning against use by diabetic patients. A research assistant, posing as the patient, interviewed pharmacists at 36 community pharmacies in a midwestern metropolitan area. Eleven of the pharmacists (30.5%) failed to warn the patient about the contraindication, compared with 83% in the earlier study.