Effect of pharmacists on health care outcomes in hospitalized patients.

The cost-effectiveness of pharmacists and their effect on inpatient health care outcomes were evaluated. For one year, data were collected on all patients receiving care from general medicine and general surgery teams at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

The relationship between outpatient drug costs and disease progression in the human immunodeficiency virus-infected population. The Military Medical Consortium for Applied Retroviral Research.

As the focus of the management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection turns from the treatment of AIDS to the entire continuum of the disease, projection of long-term healthcare costs becomes increasingly important. Rather than a fulminant disease treated primarily inside the hospital, HIV infection will become a chronic condition requiring years of outpatient monitoring and pharmacologic intervention with attending increases in pharmacy costs. The objective of this study was to characterize outpatient drug costs by Walter Reed (WR) disease stage in order to estimate the association of disease progression and outpatient prescription drug costs.

Prescription drug use patterns of human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients taking zidovudine. Walter Reed Retrovirus Research Group.

Prescription drug profiles of 116 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients taking zidovudine in 1988 were surveyed. Patients received the drug an average of 236 days. About one-third (32 percent) required reduced dosage presumably because of hematologic toxicity and this was associated with length of time on the drug.

Impact of HIV infection on pharmaceutical services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Services developed by the pharmacy department at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) relating to the treatment and study of patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are described. The WRAMC pharmacy department closely monitored use of azidothymidine (renamed zidovudine) before and after its approval by FDA. It has also done pharmaceutical cost studies for HIV-infected patients by disease stage according to the Walter Reed Classification System.