Nurse Practitioner and Pharmacist Collaboration in Ambulatory Care

Collaboration between nurse practitioners (NPs) and pharmacists in an ambulatory care setting was observed for 10 months. In a community clinic, a pharmacist and NP jointly improved medication use across 4 categories: reference to clinical guidelines, potential adverse drug events, alternatives based on treatment failure, and medication cost. They also improved patient care by reviewing treatment guidelines and modifying the drug alert algorithms of a new electronic health record system. Safe use of multiple medications, interpretation of clinical decision support systems, and reference to treatment guidelines each point to the potential benefits of collaboration.