IMPACT OF PHARMACIST COUNSELING ON MEDICATION KNOWLEDGE AND COMPLIANCE

The impact of discharge counseling was measured in a veteran patient p opulation in a large tertiary-care government medical center. Upon dis charge, seventy patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups: one group received verbal medication counseling from a pharmacist, the other group did not, Medication knowledge and compliance were assesse d by interviewing each patient approximately 6 weeks after discharge, Sixty patients (31 counseled, 29 uncounseled) completed the study, For ty-five patients were from our rehabilitation division (housing psychi atric, intermediate, and long-term care patients), and 15 patients wer e from our acute-care division, Overall, counseled patients were no mo re knowledgeable or compliant than uncounseled patients. However, amon g those patients discharged from our acute-care division, counseled pa tients were more knowledgeable and compliant than uncounseled patients , In all patients, medication knowledge and compliance decreased as th eir number of medications increased, Our discharge counseling program had little impact when examining all study patients. But in acute-care patients, discharge counseling did increase both medication knowledge and compliance, Our study also showed that, in both counseled and unc ounseled patients, medication knowledge and compliance decreased as th e number of discharge medications increased, and additional pharmacist counseling would likely prove beneficial to those patients discharged on multiple medications.