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Annual Meeting Abstracts 2004
FEATURE
obtained includes demographics, web site availability
and types of nonprescription medication inventories.
A small panel of new pharmacy owners was interviewed
for comments prior to the development of the
pretest. Based on comments from the panel, drive
through windows, friendly service and the availability
of after-hours emergency medicine pickup were rated
highly as important factors for success of the pharmacy.
The survey was developed and pretested in
approximately 10% of the population. The results of
the pretest were used to refine the survey.
Results: The importance of specific programs and
services in starting a new community pharmacy will
be evaluated and described using Likert scale and
frequency analysis.
Conclusions: Will be reported upon completion
of the project.
4—DRUG BENEFIT MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES: CONSUMERS’ ATTITUDE AND
PERCEPTIONS REGARDING FORMULA-
RIES. Sikri S, Kawatkar A, Sansgiry S, University of
Houston. E-mail: ssikri@mail.uh.edu
Objective: In recent years there has been a growing
concern about the quality and cost of health care in
America. Managed care has implemented drug benefits
management strategies like formularies, which
have evolved foremost amid cost containment strategies.
However, most patients lack understanding of
these drug management strategies, which may lead to
dissatisfaction. The objective of this study was to evaluate
consumer perceptions regarding formularies and
to understand their knowledge regarding formularies.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted
by administering a survey to consumers (N = 714)
waiting to pick a prescription in community pharmacies
(N = 72) in the Houston metropolitan area. A
prevalidated questionnaire using an 11-item, 5-point
Likert scale (strongly disagree, 1; strongly agree, 5)
was used to measure consumer perceptions and
knowledge regarding drug formularies. Data along
with demographic information such as age, gender,
marital status, race, education and income were collected,
coded, and analyzed using SAS at an a priori
significance level of .05. Descriptive and correlation
analyses were performed on the data.
Results: Among the surveyed population, only
25% of patients owned a copy of the formulary and
75% had no knowledge that their prescription plan
used the formularies. Majority of the respondents
were white (43%), female (52%), married (52%), and
working full-time (64%) with a mean age of 39.58 (±
13.96) years. Overall, consumers had negative attitude
towards formularies 2.77 (± 0.66). The respondents
were neutral with respect to satisfaction with drugs
included in their formulary 3.0 (±0.9). However analysis
indicated that consumers were motivated to seek
information regarding formularies 3.20 (± 0.98).
Conclusions: Consumers had negative attitude
toward formularies, which may be attributed to their
lack of knowledge regarding formularies. Patient
education efforts by health plan providers may help
change consumer attitude and perception towards
formularies.
5—EVALUATION OF INSULIN
GLARGINE USE IN MEDICAID PATIENT.
Mohamed O, Bultemeier N, Yeah C, Oregon State
University, College of Pharmacy. E-mail: mohamedo
@ohsu.edu
Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate
the increase in use of insulin glargine in the
Oregon Medicaid fee-for-service population.
Methods: Design: This is a retrospective study
utilizing a prescription claim database and manual
chart review. Setting: Office of Medical Assistance
Programs (OMAP) prescription claim database and
Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) medical
records will be used to identify subjects.
Participants: Subjects 18 years and older with an
insulin glargine claim during the 18-month period of
May 1, 2001 through October 31, 2002 and continuous
eligibility 6 months prior to the claim will be eligible.
Subjects receiving glargine from an OHSU
prescriber and chronic diabetes care at OHSU will be
identified to obtain clinical data. Subjects on chronic
corticosteroid and/or immunosuppressant therapy
and pregnant women will be excluded. Data collection:
Diabetes medications before and after the sentinel
glargine claim will be identified for all subjects.
The following clinical data will be collected from
chart review: weight, A1c, age, reasons for initiating
and discontinuing glargine, type of diabetes, and prescriber’s
specialty. All data will be de-identified.
Analysis Plan: Descriptive statistics will be used to
evaluate the characteristics of the sampled records.
Furthermore, paired t-tests will be used to assess the
change in A1c and weight at baseline versus 6-
months and 12-months postsentinel claim.
Results: Study findings will be presented.
Conclusions: A conclusion will be presented
based on study findings.
6—EVALUATION OF MEDICATION NON-
COMPLIANCE AT AN INDIAN HEALTH
SERVICE HOSPITAL. Dupree M, Foster S,
Dennewitz M, Cass Lake Indian Health Service
Hospital. E-mail: michael.dupree@mail.ihs.gov
Objective: The purpose of our retrospective evaluation
was to assess improvement in medication
compliance at an Indian Health Service Hospital
with regard to patients picking up prescriptions.
Methods: In October 2003, the Department of
Pharmacy installed an Interactive Voice Response
(IVR) Application, Bin Management, Outbound
Calling, and Status Inquiry Solution System to
improve medication compliance and decrease the
number of prescriptions that were being returned to
stock. Through retrospective review, prescriptions
unclaimed by patients for a 10-month period from 1
April 2003 to 31 Jan 2004 were analyzed. Pharmacy
staff used the weekly return to stock medication
labels and bin management return to stock reports
before and after IVR installation. To determine
which prescriptions were never dispensed, system
reports were used for medication utilization review
for data categorization and tracking purposes.
Unclaimed prescriptions were tracked according to
the following criteria: (1) Prevalence based on individual
drug therapeutic classification; (2) total number
of unclaimed prescriptions compared with the
total number of patients with unclaimed prescriptions
(some patients had multiple prescriptions); and
(3) total number of unclaimed prescriptions compared
with the total number of prescriptions filled
during the tracking period.
Results: Data collection ongoing,
Conclusions: NA.
7—MEDMARX: A MEDICATION ANALY-
SIS TOOL FOR THE 21ST CENTURY, OR
TEACHING AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS.
Shalita E, Guill J, United States Air Force, Rogers L,
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. E-mail:
julie.guill@mcguire.af.mil
Objective: Medication error analysis has become
a mainstay of administrative pharmacy practice.
Tying medication errors to breakdowns in process
has been an emphasis since the early 1990s. Various
methods have been used to determine the root causes
of medication errors, leading to process improvement.
Some of these methods include electronic
spreadsheets, manual paper trail, AF form 765,
CRAF documentation, and home-grown databases.
A new tool, MedMarx was installed at McGuire Air
Force Base (AFB), N.J., in December 2002. This
program will examine the utility of this tool in root
cause analysis of medication errors.
Methods: McGuire AFB Pharmacy conducted
two retrospective error analyses using 18 months of
data.
Results: Error analysis tied greatest risk to a single
process step and identified new targets for opportunity.
Conclusions: MEDMARX provides standardized
tools for evaluating errors in an objective manner.
Data can be analyzed using a concise reporting format
and a standard definition of errors. Meaningful
reports and charts present data in a way that clearly
and easily identifies trends so that it can be acted
upon to make valuable process improvements.
8—OVER-THE-COUNTER MEDICATION
LABELS FOR BLIND CONSUMERS. Pawaskar
M, Sansgiry S, University of Houston. E-mail:
p_manj@rediffmail.com
Objective: To develop and evaluate the use of
Braille and large print, over-the-counter (OTC) medication
labels for blind and visually impaired consumers.
Methods: The project is divided into three phases:
development, implementation, and evaluation. In
the first phase, OTC medication labels of analgesics
will be developed in Braille for totally blind consumers.
The study will also develop large print (18-
font size) labels especially for visually impaired consumers.
In implementation phase, these labels will
be tested in 50 blind and 50 visually impaired consumers.
Participants will be chosen randomly from
organizations and institutes that provide services and
education for blind and visually impaired population.
An experimental study design will be conducted
to assess the effectiveness of such labels to help
blind consumers comprehend OTC medication
2004 Abstracts of Contributed Papers
Vol. 44, No. 2 March/April 2004 www.japha.org Journal of the American Pharmacists Association 227
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