Establishing a Pharmacy Practice in Ambulatory Care Clinics: We Need More than a Significant p Value

Abstract

Interdisciplinary teams represent an established model of care in many settings, including ambulatory clinics. Pharmacists can be valuable members of these teams, providing expertise to help optimize drug therapy. To establish their role, or to introduce additional services, pharmacists often use evidence from clinical trials, economic analyses, and satisfaction surveys as justification. However, evidence that pharmacists have a significant impact on health outcomes, processes of care, or stakeholder satisfaction is not enough to fully characterize what a pharmacist does in a particular setting. A growing number of studies have demonstrated the important contributions of pharmacists in ambulatory care settings.