CLINICAL INTERVENTIONS PROVIDED BY DOCTOR OF PHARMACY STUDENTS

OBJECTIVE: To assess the types, perceived benefit, and cost impact of the interactions provided by two-year post-B.S. Pharm.D. students on c lerkship rotations. DESIGN: Information was obtained through voluntary reporting by students on a standardized data collection form. Cost an alysis and peer review were performed on a subset of interventions. SE TTING: The setting of die study included hospital clerkship sites (gen eral medicine and specialty rotations) and an ambulatory care site (ge neral medicine). PARTICIPANTS: Six second-year Pharm.D. students. RESU LTS: Reports that were completed totaled 951, including 612 interventi on, 335 information, and 4 unknown events. Most events were drug relat ed and student initiated. Follow-up was predominantly to physicians. I ntervention events primarily involved changes in drug therapy regimens (63.5 percent), changes in dose (29.5 percent), and identification of potential adverse drug reactions (7 percent). Acceptance rate of reco mmendations was 78.7 percent. Antibiotics, cardiovascular agents, and central nervous system drugs accounted for 55.5 percent of all interve ntions. Almost 80 percent of disease states encountered included cardi ovascular, infectious, neurologic, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and en docrine diseases. Overall, peer review scores tended to show a positiv e impact, with physician scoring higher than pharmacy faculty scoring. Medication-related costs were reduced modestly by accepted student in terventions. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates substantial clinical involvement of two-year post-B.S. Pharm.D. students on clerkships. Th e results indicate that the curriculum of Pharm.D. programs should emp hasize cardiology, infectious disease, neurology, and gerontology.