title: Implementation and Assessment of a Pharmacy Educational Program Concerning Laboratory Monitoring for Medications.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The pharmacist's role in monitoring medication therapy, including the ability to order laboratory tests as a delegated medical function, has increased dramatically over the past 20 years.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To implement and assess the impact of an intervention designed to educate pharmacists about appropriate medication-related laboratory monitoring and clinical interpretation of results.
  
  
  METHODS
  This pilot project had a pretest-posttest study design. The intervention was an educational program comprising 8 self-directed learning modules, each with a corresponding seminar. Evaluation of the program included scoring of the appropriateness and significance of clinical interventions related to laboratory monitoring, pre- and post-program test scores, and participants' subjective assessments of their abilities to order and assess the results of medication-related laboratory investigations. Descriptive statistics, the Wilcoxon signed rank test, the Studentt-test, and the paired Studentt-test were used where appropriate. Associations were assessed with the Pearson or Spearman rho correlation coefficient. All statistical tests were 2-tailed, and thepvalue for significance was established a priori at 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no statistically significant difference with regard to the appropriateness (p= 0.70) or significance (p= 0.94) of clinical interventions undertaken before and after the educational program. Among the 21 pharmacists who completed the program, the average test score (± standard deviation) was 27.2 ± 8.1 before the program, increasing to 39.2 ± 8.7 after the program (p< 0.001). There was a statistically significant improvement in the perceived level of knowledge for each individual module (p< 0.05 for all).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The establishment of an educational program led to improvements in both subjective and objective measures of knowledge and perceived abilities to order and assess the results of medication-related laboratory tests.
authors.affiliation: , PharmD, MD, is an Internal Medicine Resident with the Department of Medicine, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, New Brunswick.
authors.forename: Jaclyn M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: LeBlanc
authors.affiliation: , BScPharm, ACPR, is a Clinical Pharmacist with the Department of Pharmacy, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, New Brunswick.
authors.forename: Kayla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cameron-Coffill
authors.affiliation: , is a Clinical Coordinator with the Department of Pharmacy, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, New Brunswick.
authors.forename: Jodi L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Symes
authors.affiliation: , PharmD, BCPS, is an Associate Professor with Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kane-Gill
authors.affiliation: , BScPharm, PharmD, is a Clinical Pharmacist with the Department of Pharmacy, Toronto East General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Duplisea
authors.affiliation: , is a physician with the Department of Surgery and Medical Director of the Intensive Care Unit, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, New Brunswick.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mowatt
keywords: clinical interventions; education; formation; interventions cliniques; laboratory monitoring; pharmacien; pharmacist; surveillance par des examens de laboratoire