OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of the study was to assess the quality of self-care counselling from pharmacy practitioners, supported by national clinical guidelines. The research questions addressed (1) the distribution of symptoms among customers in need of self-care counselling, (2) the quality of the self-care advice provided by pharmacy practitioners, (3) the degree of customer compliance with appropriate pharmacy advice versus the extent of symptom relief, (4) and versus a subsequent medical care visit, and (5) which resource the customers would have turned to in the first place for their ailments, had the pharmacy practitioner not been available. SETTING: Three large community pharmacies with non-prescription self-selection departments in central Sweden. METHODS: Ten pharmacy practitioners counselled all customers > or = 18 years old, with whom a dialogue was initiated on advice or products for self-care. The counselling was based on national clinical guidelines for self-care advice in the form of a software decision support program. The data collection consisted of documentation of background customer information, independent assessments of the quality of the advice provided and of telephone follow-ups. RESULTS: Of all documented symptoms (n = 250), the most common were allergy (26.4%), musculoskeletal symptoms (8.4%) and dyspepsia (7.2%). Independent assessments of the documentation by a physician and a pharmacist found that self-care advice was appropriate to give 97.6% of the customers and that the advice provided was correct in 88.4% of the cases. In total, 217 cases (86.8%) were fully approved by both the physician and the pharmacist. Among the 182 customers who claimed that they complied completely with appropriate advice provided, 135 (74.2%) experienced a great improvement in symptoms. Among the 21 who had only partly followed the advice, six (28.6%) reported the same level of improvement (p < 0.001). If the pharmacy practitioner had not been available, 56.8% of the customers would have turned to medical care in the first instance. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrates the high quality of pharmacy practitioners' self-care counselling supported by IT-based national clinical guidelines, including a favourable impact on customers' ailments. Furthermore, it reveals that pharmacy practitioners greatly relieve the pressure on the health-care system, resulting in reduced costs to society.
OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of the study was to assess the quality of self-care counselling from pharmacy practitioners, supported by national clinical guidelines. The research questions addressed (1) the distribution of symptoms among customers in need of self-care counselling, (2) the quality of the self-care advice provided by pharmacy practitioners, (3) the degree of customer compliance with appropriate pharmacy advice versus the extent of symptom relief, (4) and versus a subsequent medical care visit, and (5) which resource the customers would have turned to in the first place for their ailments, had the pharmacy practitioner not been available. SETTING: Three large community pharmacies with non-prescription self-selection departments in central Sweden. METHODS: Ten pharmacy practitioners counselled all customers > or = 18 years old, with whom a dialogue was initiated on advice or products for self-care. The counselling was based on national clinical guidelines for self-care advice in the form of a software decision support program. The data collection consisted of documentation of background customer information, independent assessments of the quality of the advice provided and of telephone follow-ups. RESULTS: Of all documented symptoms (n = 250), the most common were allergy (26.4%), musculoskeletal symptoms (8.4%) and dyspepsia (7.2%). Independent assessments of the documentation by a physician and a pharmacist found that self-care advice was appropriate to give 97.6% of the customers and that the advice provided was correct in 88.4% of the cases. In total, 217 cases (86.8%) were fully approved by both the physician and the pharmacist. Among the 182 customers who claimed that they complied completely with appropriate advice provided, 135 (74.2%) experienced a great improvement in symptoms. Among the 21 who had only partly followed the advice, six (28.6%) reported the same level of improvement (p < 0.001). If the pharmacy practitioner had not been available, 56.8% of the customers would have turned to medical care in the first instance. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrates the high quality of pharmacy practitioners' self-care counselling supported by IT-based national clinical guidelines, including a favourable impact on customers' ailments. Furthermore, it reveals that pharmacy practitioners greatly relieve the pressure on the health-care system, resulting in reduced costs to society.
Authors: Tommy Westerlund; Peter Allebeck; Bertil Marklund; Inga-Lisa Andersson; Jan-Olof Brånstad; Magnus Sjöblom Journal: Am J Health Syst Pharm Date: 2003-07-01 Impact factor: 2.637