Drug therapy communications to family physicians in a nursing home.

The investigation described in this paper evaluated the effectiveness of written drug-therapy communications to family physicians working in a nursing home. Data analysis tracked the nature of the recommendation, as well as physician acceptance/rejection. The most frequent recommendations involved drug-level determinations, drug withdrawal and dosage modifications. The acceptance rate implied that clinically appropriate suggestions were made by the pharmacists. Communications between pharmacist and physician influenced clinical decisions. The study concluded that written recommendations of a pharmacist are an effective method of physician communication in a nursing home.