Efficacy of an over-the-counter intervention follow-up program in community pharmacies.

Objective: To evaluate whether patient adherence to appropriate self-care advice from a pharmacist or professional year 4 (PY4) advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) student provides satisfactory symptom relief.

Setting: Two community pharmacies in the same chain in Massachusetts from mid-December 2009 to June 2010.

Practice Description: Pharmacists and PY4 APPE students offered a follow-up phone call to patients who were seeking or had accepted the offer for self-care advice for themselves or others for whom they are primary caregivers.

Practice Innovation: Patients were provided detailed counseling documented on an over-the-counter (OTC) intervention document, administered a point-of-care survey, offered a follow-up phone call(s), and then administered a follow-up survey.

Main Outcome Measures: Patient demographics, point-of-care survey assessing current use and perceived benefit from a pharmacist's consultation, intervention document assessing potential medication-related problems, and follow-up telephone survey assessing patient adherence to advice, symptom relief, and satisfaction with the service.

Results: Of the 207 patients offered a follow-up phone call, 83 accepted. Of these, 54 completed one call and 9 completed two calls. Of those who completed one phone call and claimed complete adherence to advice provided, 38 (82.6%) experienced great symptom relief. Three patients followed advice only partially and experienced the same level of improvement. More than 75% of patients classified the follow-up as "very helpful," felt that it led to greater symptom improvement, and would like to see this service offered all of the time.

Conclusion: Pharmacist intervention in OTC therapy is widely accepted and can lead to improved patient outcomes.