Pharmacist as applied pharmocologist in association with a pediatric clinical pharmacologist

The ability of a pharmacist to act as an applied pharmacologist and assist the pediatric clinical pharmacologist in providing influential drug information to attending pediatricians was studied. One hundred consecutive admissions to a pediatric unit of a university hospital were studied. The pharmacist, acting as a member of the department of pharmacology, attended ward rounds and closely followed patient therapy. He attempted to provide all information requested by the attending team of pediatricians and identify all problems in therapy without involving the pharmacologist. Regular meetings were held with the clinical pharmacologist in which the pharmacist made patient presentations and sought assistance in answering those requests for which he had been unable to provide sufficient information. The information provided by the pharmacist during the patient presentations was judged adequate for the clinical pharmacologist's evaluation of patient therapy 96% of the time. The pharmacist successfully answered 81% of the information requests and made 88% of the recommendations directed at change in therapy without involving the pharmacologist. It was concluded that the pharmacist performed successfully as an applied pharmacologist in this study.