SOLVING DRUG-RELATED PROBLEMS IN THE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE PROGRAM

This study compared the ability of Professional Experience Program (PEP) clerkship students with zero, one, and three semesters of didactic training with the Pharmacist's Work-up of Drug Therapy (PWDT) approach in identifying and solving drug-related problems (DRP's). This problem-solving approach has been incorporated into the Clinical Clerkship portion of the Professional Experience Program of senior pharmacy students at two local medical center hospitals for the previous three years. For the last two years, this approach has been incorporated into the didactic curriculum via the Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics courses, a three semester sequence of study taught to all fourth-year and fifth-year pharmacy students. The average number of accepted DRPs per patient was 1.44, 1.35, and 1.07, respectively, for 1990, 1991, and 1992 clerkship students. Students with didactic coursework, however, did have a significantly higher percentage of real DRPs and identified a higher percentage of actual versus potential DRPs compared to those students without formal didactic training with the DRP approach. Students without didactic training were more likely to identify drug interactions and adverse drug reactions as DRPs, compared with students with didactic training who were more likely to identify drugs without indications and underdosing of medications. Antibiotics were the most likely group of drugs to be identified with DRPs by all three student groups. Students with didactic training using the PWDT and DRP approach to clinical pharmacy practice were better able to identify real DRPs compared to students without formal didactic training. The optimum amount of formal didactic training is unknown.