Abstract
Four methods that a community pharmacist could use in providing medicatioh information to patients were compared in a study involving eight community pharmacist volunteers. Each of the methods were employed at different times by each pharmacist and 549 patients were enrolled and interviewed by telephone. The research included a pre-intervention period where pharmacists used normal educational procedures and intervention periods where pharmacists used various techniques learned in a training workshop. After intervention, patients reported that pharmacists provided more information about their medications than did physicians. Both patients and pharmacists preferred the combination of verbal counseling and an information leaflet to either method alone or to an in-store reference book. Patients receiving some written information had more knowledge about side effects. Significant differences occurred between pre-intervention and intervention conditions, with those patients receiving information in any form being more knowledgeable and compliant. In addition, patient attitudes toward pharmacists were more positive when any information was provided them, regardless of the method used. Implications for management decisions regarding provision of educational services were discussed.