Vainio Kirsti K, Airaksinen Marja S A, Hyykky Tarja T, Enlund K Hannes
Department of Social Pharmacy, University of Kuopio, PO Box 1627, FIN-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
Ann Pharmacother. 2002 May;36(5):781-6. doi: 10.1345/aph.1A374.
To assess the effect and importance of the therapeutic class of a drug as a determinant for verbal counseling by community pharmacists.
Direct external observations (n = 1431) of pharmacist-customer interactions at the point of delivery of prescription medicines were conducted in 7 community pharmacies in Finland. Trained observers noted whether the pharmacist provided information on directions for use, mode of action, and adverse effects. To examine factors associated with counseling, a multiple logistic regression analysis was constructed, with the dependent variable being counseling of any of the 3 observed topics. In addition to therapeutic class, other independent variables were the pharmacy; pharmacist's age, gender, and degree; and the customer's age, gender, previous use of medicine, and question asking.
Provision of counseling differed significantly according to therapeutic classes. Counseling on any of the 3 observed topics was most likely to be provided for customers with antibiotics (80%) and least likely for customers with gynecologic preparations (18%). Differences between therapeutic classes remained statistically significant when the effects of the other variables were controlled for. Other significant predictors for any verbal counseling were the pharmacy, customer's previous use of the medicine, and question asking.
Therapeutic class is an important variable that should be included in further studies and considered when comparing studies on patient counseling in community pharmacies.
评估药物治疗类别作为社区药剂师进行口头咨询的决定因素的作用及重要性。
在芬兰的7家社区药房对处方药交付点药剂师与顾客的互动进行了1431次直接外部观察。经过培训的观察员记录药剂师是否提供了关于用法、作用方式和不良反应的信息。为了研究与咨询相关的因素，构建了多元逻辑回归分析，因变量为对3个观察主题中任何一个的咨询。除治疗类别外，其他自变量包括药房；药剂师的年龄、性别和学位；以及顾客的年龄、性别、既往用药情况和提问情况。
根据治疗类别，咨询的提供情况有显著差异。对于使用抗生素的顾客，最有可能提供对3个观察主题中任何一个的咨询（80%），而对于使用妇科制剂的顾客，可能性最小（18%）。在控制其他变量的影响后，治疗类别之间的差异仍具有统计学意义。任何口头咨询的其他显著预测因素包括药房、顾客既往用药情况和提问情况。
治疗类别是一个重要变量，应纳入进一步研究，并在比较社区药房患者咨询研究时予以考虑。
