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PubMed2003

Organization of a health-system pharmacy team to respond to episodes of terrorism.

The role of a pharmacy emergency response team (PERT) trained to respond to episodes of terrorism involving chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents is described. Pharmacists must be prepared to support their health systems in responding to episodes of terrorism by detecting exposure to CBRN agents and mitigating, treating, and preventing casualties resulting from exposure to those agents. Maimonides Medical Center, whose pharmacists responded to the medical and pharmaceutical needs of victims of the World Trade Center attacks and anthrax exposures, has developed the PERT, modeled after the Health Emergency Incident Command System, to standardize the response of their pharmacists in the event of such an attack. Each team member has a specific role and can assume any other team member's role, if needed. Key players in the PERT include the pharmacy administrator, drug information pharmacist, intensive care unit pharmacist, infectious diseases pharmacist, nuclear pharmacist, management-information-system pharmacist, hazardous materials pharmacist, and auxiliary-site pharmacist. The most important features of this disaster response model include activating the PERT to establish command and control in the pharmacy department, conducting a disaster-needs analysis, deploying PERT members in support of the medical center during a public health emergency involving CBRN agents while maintaining normal operations in the pharmacy, and maintaining, mobilizing, distributing, and receiving a pharmaceutical stockpile while ensuring that timely antidotes are available and used appropriately when distributed. The PERT allows for a comprehensive pharmacy response within a health system to episodes of terrorism involving CBRN agents.

Disaster Planning↗
PubMed2004

Pharmacy residency training in academic medical centers.

PURPOSE: A survey of U.S. academic medical centers (AMCs) was conducted to identify the most important and challenging issues in pharmacy residency training. METHODS: A questionnaire addressing program characteristics and residency training concerns was sent electronically to pharmacy directors at 130 AMCs that are members or associate members of the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC). Residency coordinators for both pharmacy practice and specialized programs were asked to complete the questionnaire, with input from other pharmacists involved in the residency program. Respondents were asked to rate the importance and degree of challenge for all issues on a 5-point Likert scale, where 1 = least important or least challenging and 5 = most important or most challenging. RESULTS: Responses were received from hospitals representing over 60% of all residency positions offered by UHC member hospitals. Recruitment was rated the most important issue (mean importance score, 4.8) facing residency programs in AMCs, but with over 85% of budgeted positions filled, programs appear to be successful in overcoming this concern. The most challenging issue (mean challenge score, 4.2) was compliance with the evaluation and documentation elements of the ASHP Residency Learning System (RLS), a system often used to meet requirements for pharmacy practice residency accreditation. The completion of resident research requirements was ranked as both an important and a challenging issue (mean importance score, 4.5; mean challenge score, 3.9). CONCLUSION: A survey of AMCs showed that they offered a wide variety of pharmacy residency programs and filled most budgeted resident positions. Resident recruitment, the RLS, and research requirements are the most important and challenging residency concerns facing the respondents.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed2005

Community pharmacy supply of emergency hormonal contraception: a structured literature review of international evidence.

BACKGROUND: We could find no previous published review of the evidence relating to pharmacy supply of emergency hormonal contraception (EHC). Our objectives were to review, summarize and evaluate the peer-reviewed evidence relating to community pharmacy supply of EHC both in the UK and internationally. METHODS: Systematic searches were conducted for peer-reviewed international research from January 1990 to January 2005. The UK Health Development Agency's Evidence Base 2000 standards and the evidence categories used by the UK Department of Health were applied to each paper. RESULTS: We included 24 peer-reviewed papers. There was one randomized controlled trial (RCT); the remainder of the studies were qualitative or observational studies. Pharmacy supply of EHC enables most women to receive it within 24 h of unprotected sexual intercourse. Services were highly rated by women. One RCT showed that improving access to EHC did not reduce the use of other contraceptives, lead to an increase in risky sexual behaviour or increase the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Users expressed some concerns about the appropriateness of receiving additional pharmacist advice regarding future contraception use and STIs. One study found pharmacy supply had led to a decrease in attendances at accident and emergency departments. CONCLUSION: There is good evidence that community pharmacy EHC services provide timely access to treatment and are highly rated by women.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2005

Use of community pharmacies: a population-based survey.

BACKGROUND: Community pharmacies are widely used in the UK, but the services they provide are changing, with pharmacists expected to take on wider roles and responsibilities. The impact of such changes will partly depend on who uses pharmacies and their illnesses. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional survey of a stratified random sample of 10,000 adults aged 35 years plus. RESULTS: In the previous month, 59 per cent of respondents had collected a prescription medicine and 40 per cent had purchased an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine from a pharmacy, whereas only 12 per cent had asked for advice. Women were more likely to have obtained medicine or asked for advice (76 per cent), but nearly two-thirds of men had done so (63 per cent). Poor self-rated health was the key factor in obtaining medicine, both on prescription and OTC. Purchasers of OTC medicine were more likely to be younger and from higher socio-economic classes, whereas those who collected prescription medicine were more likely to be older, feel at risk of vascular health problems and non-smokers. Medicines to treat cold and flu symptoms were the most frequently reported purchase type. Only a small number of respondents who asked for advice had not also obtained medicine. Respondents who asked for advice were more likely to have asked about a specific medicine or illness than to have asked for general health advice. CONCLUSION: Whilst those with poorer health are more likely to visit, a wide range of ages and social classes visit pharmacies each month. This provides an opportunity for public health initiatives to be delivered in pharmacies.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

The spatial distribution of urban pharmacies.

Pharmacists are thought to play a central role in providing information and advice on health to lower income and other socially disadvantaged groups. However, recent evidence suggests that social biases exist in the spatial distribution of urban pharmacies. Such biases would severely limit the accessibility of the poor and the nonwhite to pharmacy services. To test the general nature of this evidence, we used multiple regression techniques to assess the simultaneous influence of several ecological and socioeconomic variables on the location of pharmacies in Pittsburgh and Omaha. After controlling for the influence of physicians, hospitals, commercial activity, population, and other variables thought to affect pharmacy location, we were unable to detect any evidence of a direct association between pharmacy location and the socioeconomic or demographic (other than total population) characteristics of areas in either city.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1977

The mysteries of prescription pricing in retail pharmacies.

A sample of 13,314 prescriptions filled in 20 pharmacies during a two-week period is analyzed to identify price variations both among and within pharmacies. The results reaffirm previous reports of inter-pharmacy price variation by finding that prices among pharmacies vary by as much as 200 per cent. What is surprising, however, is that the data show that within a two-week period, the price of the same quantity of the same dosage form of the same drug in the same pharmacy also varies by as much as 130 per cent. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis of anti-competitive pricing which, by denying consistent price information to the consumer, makes rational purchasing behavior impossible.

Fees, Pharmaceutical↗
PubMed1989

Role of community pharmacies in prevention of AIDS among injecting drug misusers: findings of a survey in England and Wales.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the current and potential roles of community pharmacists in the prevention of AIDS among misusers of injected drugs. DESIGN: Cross sectional postal survey of a one in four random sample of registered pharmacies in England and Wales. SETTING: Project conducted in the addiction research unit of the Institute of Psychiatry, London. SUBJECTS: 2469 Community pharmacies in the 15 regional health authorities in England and Wales. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Willingness of pharmacists to sell injecting equipment to known or suspected misusers of drugs; pharmacists' attitudes to syringe exchange schemes, keeping a "sharps" box for use by misusers of drugs, and offering face to face advice and leaflets; and opinions of community pharmacists on their role in AIDS prevention and drug misuse. RESULTS: 1946 Questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 79%. This fell short of the target of one in four pharmacies in each family practitioner committee area in England and Wales, and total numbers of respondents were therefore weighted in inverse proportion to the response rate in each area. The findings disclosed a substantial demand for injecting equipment by drug misusers. After weighting of numbers of respondents an estimated 676 of 2434 pharmacies were currently selling injecting equipment and 65 of 2415 (3%) were participating in local syringe exchange schemes; only 94 of 2410 pharmacies (4%) had a sharps box for used equipment. There was a high degree of concern among pharmacists about particular consequences of drug misusers visiting their premises, along with a widespread acceptance that the community pharmacist had an important part to play. CONCLUSIONS: Promoting the participation of community pharmacists in the prevention of AIDS among misusers of injected drugs is a viable policy, but several problems would need to be overcome before it was implemented.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1991

Birth weight and gestational age among children of Danish pharmacy assistants.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate whether specific types of work or exposures among pharmacy assistants were correlated with changes in birth weight or gestational age. DESIGN: The study was a nationwide historical cohort with open entry of all female members of the union of pharmacy assistants during 1979 to 1984. PARTICIPANTS: The cohort comprised 4939 pharmacy assistants under 40 years of age. The questionnaire was answered by 93%. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Information on birth weight and gestational age was obtained by linkage to the national birth register. Exposure information on type of work and exposure to pharmaceutical and chemical products during pregnancy was self reported. Only small and non-significant differences in birth weight and gestational age were found between the compared groups. Mean birth weight was 50 g above the national mean and gestational age was longer (p less than 0.0005). CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the Danish population, children of pharmacy assistants are at low risk for experiencing low birth weight and preterm birth. Social status and less smoking during pregnancy among pharmacy assistants might explain the slightly greater mean birthweight and gestational age in this sector of the population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Safety culture assessment in community pharmacy: development, face validity, and feasibility of the Manchester Patient Safety Assessment Framework.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a framework that could be used by community pharmacies to self-assess their current level of safety culture maturity, which has high face validity and is both acceptable and feasible for use in this setting. DESIGN: An iterative review process in which the framework was developed and evaluated through a series of 10 focus groups with a purposive sample of 67 community pharmacists and support staff in the UK. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Development of the framework and qualitative process feedback on its acceptability, face validity, and feasibility for use in community pharmacies. RESULTS: Using this process, a version of the Manchester Patient Safety Assessment Framework (MaPSAF) was developed that is suitable for application to community pharmacies. The participants were able to understand the concepts, recognised differences between the five stages of safety culture maturity, and concurred with the descriptions from personal experience. They also indicated that they would be willing to use the framework but recognised that staff would require protected time in order to complete the assessment. CONCLUSIONS: In practice the MaPSAF is likely to have a number of uses including raising awareness about patient safety and illustrating any differences in perception between staff, stimulating discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of patient safety culture within the pharmacy, identifying areas for improvement, and evaluating patient safety interventions and tracking changes over time. This will support the development of a mature safety culture in community pharmacies.

England↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The BC Community Pharmacy Asthma Study: A study of clinical, economic and holistic outcomes influenced by an asthma care protocol provided by specially trained community pharmacists in British Columbia.

OBJECTIVES: Despite advances in recent years, asthma morbidity and mortality have been noted to be on the increase in the past decade. The present study examined the failures and recommendations of past studies and introduced a new milieu for asthma care--the community pharmacy. The study incorporated a care protocol with the important ingredients of asthma education on medications, triggers, self-monitoring and an asthma plan, with pharmacists taking responsibility for outcomes, assessment of a patient's readiness to change and tailoring education to that readiness, compliance monitoring and physician consultation to achieve asthma prescribing guidelines. METHODS: Thirty-three pharmacists in British Columbia, specially trained and certified in asthma care, agreed to participate in a study in which experienced pharmacists would have asthma patients allocated to enhanced (pharmaceutical) care (EC) or usual care (UC). Pharmacists less experienced were clustered by geography and had their pharmacies randomized to two levels of care; each pharmacy then had patients randomized to EC versus control, UC versus control or EC versus UC depending on their pharmacy randomization. Six hundred thirty-one patients provided consent, of which 225 in EC or UC were analyzed for all outcomes. Patients were followed for one year. RESULTS: Compared with patients in the UC group, the results of those in the EC group were as follows: symptom scores decreased by 50%; peak flow readings increased by 11%; days off work or school were reduced by approximately 0.6 days/month; use of inhaled beta-agonists was reduced by 50%; overall quality of life improved by 19%, and the specific domains of activity limitations, symptoms and emotional function also improved; initial knowledge scores doubled; emergency room visits decreased by 75%; and medical visits decreased by 75%. A patient satisfaction survey revealed that the population was extremely pleased with their pharmacy services. Cost analysis reinforces the EC model, which is more cost effective than UC in terms of most direct and indirect costs in asthma patients. CONCLUSION: Specially trained community pharmacists in Canada, using a pharmaceutical care-based protocol, can produce impressive improvements in clinical, economic and humanistic outcome measures in asthma patients. The health care system needs to produce incentives for such care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Multiple access to sterile syringes for injection drug users: vending machines, needle exchange programs and legal pharmacy sales in Marseille, France.

OBJECTIVE: In Marseille, southeastern France, HIV prevention programs for injection drug users (IDUs) simultaneously include access to sterile syringes through needle exchange programs (NEPs), legal pharmacy sales and, since 1996, vending machines that mechanically exchange new syringes for used ones. The purpose of this study was to compare the characteristics of IDUs according to the site where they last obtained new syringes. METHODS: During 3 days in September 1997, all IDUs who obtained syringes from 32 pharmacies, four NEPs and three vending machines were offered the opportunity to complete a self-administered questionnaire on demographics, drug use characteristics and program utilization. RESULTS: Of 485 individuals approached, the number who completed the questionnaire was 141 in pharmacies, 114 in NEPs and 88 at vending machines (response rate = 70.7%). Compared to NEP users, vending machine users were younger and less likely to be enrolled in a methadone program or to report being HIV infected, but more likely to misuse buprenorphine. They also had lower financial resources and were less likely to be heroin injectors than both pharmacy and NEP users. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that vending machines attract a very different group of IDUs than NEPs, and that both programs are useful adjuncts to legal pharmacy sales for covering the needs of IDUs for sterile syringes in a single city. Assessment of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of combining such programs for the prevention of HIV and other infectious diseases among IDUs requires further comparative research.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Pharmacists' perceptions of geriatric pharmacy practice.

Four hundred thirty-two pharmacists from two separate pharmacy organizations associated with geriatric practice were surveyed to determine their perceptions of 51 content areas in terms of their importance for inclusion in pharmacy curricula. The population surveyed was also asked to respond to the question: What do you believe is the most difficult aspect of geriatric pharmacy practice? Demographic and descriptive information was collected for each respondent, for statistical purposes. The most important content areas for inclusion in pharmacy curricula were the pharmacist's responsibility in long-term care, patient compliance, drug interactions, adverse drug reactions, and psychotropic medication use. The most difficult aspects of geriatric pharmacy practice identified included inadequate geriatric knowledge, patient compliance, physician overprescribing, communication with the elderly, and lack of professional and/or financial recognition.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1988

Professional liability for pharmacists: a focus on pharmacy practice acts.

The increased complexity of pharmacotherapeutics and the expanded role of pharmacists in the drug-use process may bring about an increased liability exposure for failure to conform to a professional standard of care. Therefore, a survey of 51 state pharmacy practice acts was conducted: (1) to establish a nationwide statutory definition of pharmacy practice, and (2) to outline possible use of the statutes in civil and administrative law. Twenty percent of state statutes contain no definition of pharmacy practice. Of the remaining 41 states, dispensing (97.5 percent), compounding (92.5 percent), interpretation and evaluation of prescriptions (68.2 percent), and consultation (73 percent) are legally defined. Pharmacokinetic consultation, drug administration, pharmacist prescribing, and pharmaceutical research are defined in one, seven, four, and one state(s), respectively. Pharmacists may face legal responsibilities from both the courts and state boards of medical and pharmacy practice. Aggressively updating the statutes and regulations to reflect contemporary pharmacy practice may provide a mechanism for a defense in court litigation and regulatory action.

Licensure, Pharmacy↗
PubMed1992

Characteristics of pharmaceutical opinions written in a Quebec community pharmacy.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics of pharmaceutical opinions written in a community pharmacy and to estimate the possible effects of these opinions on patient drug profiles. DESIGN: Retrospective survey. SETTING: The community pharmacy where these opinions were written is located in a rural area of the province of Quebec. Only health-related items are sold and no merchandise is displayed in this pharmacy. PARTICIPANTS: Ten pharmacists worked at this pharmacy during the period of the study. INTERVENTION: Pharmacists were paid when they sent advice to a patient or a physician about the patient's drug profile or about the therapeutic value of a prescribed treatment. This survey included recommendations made from 1978 to 1983. A sample of 600 opinions was drawn at random from a total of 1992 opinions that had been written at the site of the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The impact of each opinion was assessed by analyzing patient drug profiles for three months after the opinion was written to determine if the recipient had followed the pharmacist's recommendation. RESULTS: Pharmacists, on their own initiative, sent 97.9 percent of the opinions. Only 1.7 percent of the opinions were requested by patients and 0.4 percent by physicians. Most opinions were addressed to patients (86.7 percent) rather than to physicians (13.3 percent). Almost four of five recommendations sent to patients were about compliance (45.1 percent) or were suggestions for improving the therapeutic effect of a medication or replacing a drug with nondrug treatment (33.4 percent). The three most common recommendations sent to prescribers were to replace one drug with another (25 percent), to change the dose or dosing schedule of a drug (16.3 percent), and to discontinue drug treatment (16.3 percent). Chemical stability, underuse or overuse of a medication, and adverse effects were the most frequent causes of recommendations sent to patients. Adverse effects, interactions, and the underuse of a medication were the most frequent reasons for recommendations sent to physicians. The proportion of recommendations that were implemented was 77.7 percent for patients and 58.1 percent for physicians. CONCLUSIONS: The pharmaceutical opinion seemed to be a good means of communicating with patients and prescribers on a wide variety of problems encountered in a community pharmacy. It allowed pharmacists to be paid for their expertise even if a drug was not dispensed. Also, the pharmaceutical opinion could compensate for the loss of income when the pharmacist recommended replacing a prescribed medicine with nondrug treatment.

Community Pharmacy Services↗
PubMed1993

Patient counseling in community pharmacy and its relationship with prescription payment methods and practice settings.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether patient counseling activities in community pharmacies are related to payment method and practice setting. DESIGN: Randomly selected pharmacists voluntarily performed self-data collection (39 percent participation rate) of counseling activities for 40 hours. Observational data were also collected by trained observers. SETTING: Community pharmacies. RESULTS: Forty-seven pharmacists in national chain pharmacies and 26 in independent pharmacies collected data on 3766 counseling events. Patient counseling rates, defined as percentage of patients counseled per prescription per pharmacist, were significantly higher (p < 0.05) for self-pay (median 12.9 percent) and Medicaid (median 13.0 percent) than for capitation patients (median 7.9 percent). Rates were somewhat higher (p = 0.06) for chain (median 17.7 percent) than for independent pharmacists (10.7 percent). Although there was no difference in terms of pharmacist-initiated counseling, chain pharmacists had higher rates of patient-initiated counseling per prescription (median 4.3 percent) than independent pharmacists (median 2.7 percent) (p < 0.01). Counseling information was related to payment method and practice setting. A significantly higher percentage (p < 0.01) of counseling events for capitation patients pertained to chronic therapies (33.6 percent) compared with counseling events involving patients using other payment methods (21.8-24.8 percent). A strong correlation between observational data and self-reported data was found (Pearson r = 0.696, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The finding that pharmacists counsel capitation patients less frequently may be attributable to financial incentives or to pharmacists' perception that these patients do not need to be counseled. Independent pharmacists' higher number of capitation patients and increased workloads may have affected their counseling activities. These findings have implications for pharmacy service reimbursement programs, practice conditions, and continuing education programs.

Capitation Fee↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Quality assessment of economic evaluations in selected pharmacy, medical, and health economics journals.

OBJECTIVE: To assess and compare the quality of economic studies in selected pharmacy, medical, and health economics journals. DATA SOURCES: DICP The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, Hospital Pharmacy, New England Journal of Medicine, Medical Care, Journal of the American Medical Association, PharmacoEconomics, International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, and Journal of Health Economics using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts. Search terms included "economic," "cost," and "cost analysis." STUDY SELECTION: Reviewers appraised abstracts to identify original research published during 1989-1993 comparing costs and outcomes between drugs, treatments, and/or services. Initially, 123 articles met criteria; 16 were inappropriate, 17 were randomized out, and 90 (73%) were used (30/group). DATA EXTRACTION: Quality was assessed using a 13-item checklist. Interrater reliability was 0.91 (p < 0.05) for 9 raters, test-retest reliability was 0.94 (p < 0.001). DATA SYNTHESIS: A 2-way ANOVA, with overall quality scores as a dependent variable with journal type and year as independent variables, was significant (F = 2.79, p = 0.002, r2 = 0.34), with no significant interaction (F = 0.71, p = 0.68) or time effect (F = 0.70, p = 0.60). Journal types differed; pharmacy journals scored significantly lower (chi 2 = 53.89, df = 2, p < 0.001). Items rated adequate (i.e., correct or acceptable) increased over time (chi 2 = 21.18, df = 4, p < 0.001). Ethical issues and study perspective most needed improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Article quality for all journal types increased over time nonsignificantly; health economics journals scored highest, then medical journals, with pharmacy journals significantly lower (and having the highest standard deviation). We recommend that authors and reviewers pay closer attention to study perspective and ethical implications.

Economics, Pharmaceutical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Asheville Project: short-term outcomes of a community pharmacy diabetes care program.

OBJECTIVE: To assess short-term clinical, economic, and humanistic outcomes of pharmaceutical care services (PCS) for patients with diabetes in community pharmacies. DESIGN: Intention-to-treat, pre-post cohort-with-comparison group study. SETTING: Twelve community pharmacies in Asheville, N.C. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Eighty-five patients with diabetes who were employees, dependents, or retirees from two self-insured employers; community pharmacists who completed a diabetes certificate program and received reimbursement for PCS. INTERVENTIONS: Patients scheduled consultations with pharmacists over 7 to 9 months. Pharmacists provided education, self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG) meter training, clinical assessment, patient monitoring, follow-up, and referral. Group 1 patients began receiving PCS in March 1997, and group 2 patients began in March 1999. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Change from baseline in the two employer groups in glycosylated hemoglobin (A1c) values, serum lipid concentrations, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), satisfaction with pharmacy services, and health care utilization and costs. RESULTS: Patients used SMBG meters at home, stored all readings, and brought their meters with them to 87% of the 317 PCS visits (3.7 visits per patient). Patients' A1c concentrations were significantly reduced, and their satisfaction with pharmacy services improved significantly. Patients experienced no change in HRQOL. From the payers' perspective, there was a significant dollars 52 per patient per month increase in diabetes costs for both groups, with PCS fees and diabetes prescriptions accounting for most of the increase. In contrast, both groups experienced a nonsignificant but economically important 29% decrease in nondiabetes costs and a 16% decrease in all-diagnosis costs. CONCLUSION: A clear temporal relationship was found between PCS and improved A1c, improved patient satisfaction with pharmacy services, and decreased all-diagnosis costs. Findings from this study demonstrate that pharmacists provided effective cognitive services and refute the idea that pharmacists must be certified diabetes educators to help patients with diabetes improve clinical outcomes.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Plasma cholesterol concentrations, dietary fat intake, and cholesterol intake in pharmacy students.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of formal education on hyperlipidemia on pharmacy students' dietary fat consumption and plasma cholesterol concentrations over a 3-month period. DESIGN: Prospective, open, nonrandomized, controlled trial. SETTING: College of pharmacy. PARTICIPANTS: First professional-year (P1) and second professional-year (P2) pharmacy students. INTERVENTION: P2 students received 6 hours of formal education regarding cardiovascular risk factors and National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines for detection and treatment of hyperlipidemia. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Percentage of total caloric intake from fat and saturated fat and plasma cholesterol concentrations after 1 and 3 months. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between the percentage of total caloric intake from total and saturated fat for P1 and P2 students at all time points, with P1 > P2. A significant time effect was also found for percentage of total caloric intake from total and saturated fat as well as dietary cholesterol consumption for both groups, indicating no net effect of the formal educational intervention. No differences were found in average percentage of total caloric intakes from total and saturated fat between our student sample and that of a national sample of Americans of similar age from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Series III (NHANES III). Female pharmacy students appeared to have lower plasma cholesterol concentrations than women of the same age group in the general American population. CONCLUSION: Formal education did not alter students' percentage of total caloric intake from total and saturated fat or plasma cholesterol concentrations. Approximately 20% of pharmacy students may be eligible for more intensive diet and, perhaps, drug therapy for treatment of hypercholesterolemia.

Adult↗