A comparison of the Indian Health Service counseling technique with traditional, lecture-style counseling.

Objectives: To compare the immediate postcounseling retention of important information using the traditional method with retention obtained using the Indian Health Service (IHS) interactive technique, and to compare the time required to counsel patients on new prescriptions using the traditional method with the time required using the IHS technique.

Design: A prospective, nonrandomized, observational study at four different local community pharmacies in Oregon. Two sites that used the traditional counseling model served as the control sites, while two other sites used the IHS counseling model.