Evaluation of a practice enhancement program to implement pharmaceutical care

The aim of this project was to assess the effectiveness of a practice enhan cement program in training community pharmacists to provide pharmaceutical care. A mid- and post-test with no control group design was used. Nine phar macists in five pharmacies completed the program comprised of 40 hours of f ace-to-face sessions, IO-weeks of structure/process changes and case work-u ps for five paper cases and six practicum patients, Structure and process c hanges adopted and work-ups for two standard patients and a description of care provided to practicum patients were used to evaluate the program. All pharmacies implemented some of the structure and process changes. For the s tandard patient, the average was 59 +/- 8 percent for the mid-test and 78 /- 10 percent for the post-test (P<0.01). Real or potential drug-related pr oblems identified for 51 practicum patients numbered 158. Pharmacists made 57 recommendations and 61 percent were accepted by physicians. This evidenc e suggests that participating community pharmacists possess the capability to provide pharmaceutical care.