2001 anthrax crisis in Washington, D.C.: pharmacists' role in screening patients and selecting prophylaxis

Abstract

Pharmacists' development and use of a worksheet facilitating their rapid selection of patient-appropriate prophylactic antimicrobials in an anthrax clinic is described. A clinic housed at D.C. General Hospital, in Washington, D.C., treated most of the people--many of them postal workers--who may have been exposed to anthrax in that city during the 2001 anthrax crisis. A form was needed to assist pharmacists in the rapid selection of prophylactic antimicrobials and in patient education and counseling. A team of pharmacists collaborated on the development of a form tailored to the clinical and logistical needs of the operation. The questions on the form were based largely on the two antianthrax agents most likely to be used, ciprofloxacin and doxycycline, and were designed to identify the circumstances that would most frequently require a medication change or a modification of patient education. Yes-or-no check boxes allowed pertinent data to be captured most efficiently. A positive response to any question triggered a personal interview and assessment by a pharmacist. A treatment algorithm was also developed to ensure consistent pharmacist selection of agents in the face of potentially changing policies and staff. The worksheet questions sought to establish treatment objectives, document allergies and concomitant therapies, and identify patients who were pregnant or lactating. Pharmacists developed a patient-screening worksheet that helped determine their choice of treatment for people who may have been exposed to anthrax in Washington, D.C., during the 2001 anthrax crisis.