Jaclyn M LeBlanc1, Kayla Cameron-Coffill2, Jodi L Symes3, Sandra Kane-Gill4, Kevin Duplisea5, John Mowatt6. 1. , PharmD, MD, is an Internal Medicine Resident with the Department of Medicine, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, New Brunswick. 2. , BScPharm, ACPR, is a Clinical Pharmacist with the Department of Pharmacy, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, New Brunswick. 3. , is a Clinical Coordinator with the Department of Pharmacy, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, New Brunswick. 4. , PharmD, BCPS, is an Associate Professor with Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 5. , BScPharm, PharmD, is a Clinical Pharmacist with the Department of Pharmacy, Toronto East General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario. 6. , is a physician with the Department of Surgery and Medical Director of the Intensive Care Unit, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, New Brunswick.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The pharmacist's role in monitoring medication therapy, including the ability to order laboratory tests as a delegated medical function, has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. OBJECTIVES: To implement and assess the impact of an intervention designed to educate pharmacists about appropriate medication-related laboratory monitoring and clinical interpretation of results. METHODS: This pilot project had a pretest-posttest study design. The intervention was an educational program comprising 8 self-directed learning modules, each with a corresponding seminar. Evaluation of the program included scoring of the appropriateness and significance of clinical interventions related to laboratory monitoring, pre- and post-program test scores, and participants' subjective assessments of their abilities to order and assess the results of medication-related laboratory investigations. Descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon signed rank test, the Student t-test, and the paired Student t-test were used where appropriate. Associations were assessed with the Pearson or Spearman rho correlation coefficient. All statistical tests were 2-tailed, and the p value for significance was established a priori at 0.05. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference with regard to the appropriateness (p = 0.70) or significance (p = 0.94) of clinical interventions undertaken before and after the educational program. Among the 21 pharmacists who completed the program, the average test score (± standard deviation) was 27.2 ± 8.1 before the program, increasing to 39.2 ± 8.7 after the program (p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant improvement in the perceived level of knowledge for each individual module (p < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSIONS: The establishment of an educational program led to improvements in both subjective and objective measures of knowledge and perceived abilities to order and assess the results of medication-related laboratory tests.
BACKGROUND: The pharmacist's role in monitoring medication therapy, including the ability to order laboratory tests as a delegated medical function, has increased dramatically over the past 20 years. OBJECTIVES: To implement and assess the impact of an intervention designed to educate pharmacists about appropriate medication-related laboratory monitoring and clinical interpretation of results. METHODS: This pilot project had a pretest-posttest study design. The intervention was an educational program comprising 8 self-directed learning modules, each with a corresponding seminar. Evaluation of the program included scoring of the appropriateness and significance of clinical interventions related to laboratory monitoring, pre- and post-program test scores, and participants' subjective assessments of their abilities to order and assess the results of medication-related laboratory investigations. Descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon signed rank test, the Student t-test, and the paired Student t-test were used where appropriate. Associations were assessed with the Pearson or Spearman rho correlation coefficient. All statistical tests were 2-tailed, and the p value for significance was established a priori at 0.05. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference with regard to the appropriateness (p = 0.70) or significance (p = 0.94) of clinical interventions undertaken before and after the educational program. Among the 21 pharmacists who completed the program, the average test score (± standard deviation) was 27.2 ± 8.1 before the program, increasing to 39.2 ± 8.7 after the program (p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant improvement in the perceived level of knowledge for each individual module (p < 0.05 for all). CONCLUSIONS: The establishment of an educational program led to improvements in both subjective and objective measures of knowledge and perceived abilities to order and assess the results of medication-related laboratory tests.
Entities:
Keywords:
clinical interventions; education; formation; interventions cliniques; laboratory monitoring; pharmacien; pharmacist; surveillance par des examens de laboratoire
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