Work patterns of ambulatory care pharmacists with access to electronic guideline-based treatment suggestions

The effects of the electronic display of guideline-based, patient-specific treatment suggestions on pharmacist work patterns were studied. A total of 28 pharmacists at a hospital-based ambulatory care pharmacy were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. The intervention gro up had access to electronic treatment suggestions for heart failure, ischem ic heart disease, reactive airways disease, and uncomplicated hypertension, while the control group did not. Starting 9 and 19 months after the initia l display of treatment suggestions, all pharmacists recorded the time they spent on a variety of activities, the purpose of each activity, and persons contacted during the activity; these observations were recorded in respons e to a pager-like device that randomly buzzed foul times an hour. A total of 11,102 observations were recorded. Pharmacists in the interventi on group spent significantly more of their time discussing information, adv ising and informing, and solving problems than pharmacists in the control g roup but significantly less of their time checking and filling prescription s. Pharmacists in both groups completed a majority of their work alone, but pharmacists in the intervention group worked significantly less by themsel ves and significantly more with other pharmacy personnel, patient's, and ph ysicians and nurses than control-group pharmacists. The delivery of patient -specific information to pharmacists at the time of dispensing had a signif icant positive impact on pharmacist work patterns.