Pharmacist Initiated Patient Drug Histories

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Abstract
This study examined the efficacy of pharmacists developing patient drug histories for newly admitted hospitalized patients. One hundred patients were interviewed by a pharmacist on the day after admission to determine the medications they had taken during the six-month period prior to admission. Only 57 percent of the medications found by the pharmacist were recorded by the attending physician during the patients' admission interview. Although the physician recorded 70 percent of the patients' prescribed medications, he recorded only 37 percent of the nonprescription medications found by the pharmacist. Over 90 percent of the patients were cooperative with the pharmacist interviewer. Almost one out of four patients had a particular drug problem which they discussed With the pharmacist. The pharmacist and physicians recorded essentially the same information on drug dependence, allergies and previous reactions to drugs. Almost 40 percent of the patients interviewed revealed that they did not utilize their prescription drugs exactly as directed by their physician. The primary problem involved in pharmacist initiated patient drug histories was the amount of time required. In this study the pharmacist was able to obtain a more complete patient drug history than the physician. The economics of the situation suggest that patient drug histories should be taken by pharmacists practicing in the patient care setting or during a daily round to interview all new patients.

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