Retrospective evaluation of medication appropriateness and clinical pharmacist drug therapy recommendations for home-based primary care veterans.

Background: The Medication Appropriateness Index (MAI) has demonstrated reliability in several outpatient settings. Clinical pharmacists play key roles as members of an interdisciplinary team in determining medication appropriateness.

Objective: The goal of this study was to examine medication appropriateness using the MAI and the degree of recommendation acceptance associated with clinical pharmacist medication reviews for veterans enrolled in the Home-Based Primary Care (HBPC) program.

Practitioners' views on computerized drug-drug interaction alerts in the VA system.

Objectives: To assess Veterans Affairs (VA) prescribers' and pharmacists' opinions about computer-generated drug-drug interaction (DDI) alerts and obtain suggestions for improving DDI alerts.

Design: A mail survey of 725 prescribers and 142 pharmacists from seven VA medical centers across the United States.

Measurements: A questionnaire asked respondents about their sources of drug and DDI information, satisfaction with the combined inpatient and outpatient computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) system, attitude toward DDI alerts, and suggestions for improving DDI alerts.

Improvements in glycemic control in type 2 diabetes patients switched from sulfonylurea coadministered with metformin to glyburide-metformin tablets.

Objective: To evaluate the change in hemoglobin A1C (A1C) in patients with type 2 diabetes switched from coadministration of a sulfonylurea (SU), glyburide or glipizide, and metformin (SU+Met) to a single glyburide-metformin tablet.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study design of patients with type 2 diabetes treated at 3 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and 1 Department of Defense Medical Center was utilized. One hundred percent of patients receiving glyburide-metformin tablets were screened for inclusion.