Pharmacists' Knowledge of the Cost of Laboratory Testing

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to ascertain baseline knowledge of pharmacists and pharmacy residents concerning the cost of laboratory tests for monitoring medications, and to determine whether an educational session delivered to pharmacy residents improves their knowledge of these costs. Methods: An online survey was provided to pharmacists and pharmacy residents, testing their knowledge of 15 common laboratory tests used to monitor the safety and efficacy of medications. One of the researchers presented a lecture to all pharmacy residents that detailed individual laboratory costs; after that, the researchers delivered a follow-up survey to assess the effectiveness of the educational session. Results: Baseline knowledge of pharmacists showed that greater than 64% of the responses were more than 30% away from the actual cost of the laboratory test for all 15 tests. Baseline knowledge of pharmacy residents showed that greater than 58% of the responses were more than 30% away from the actual cost of the laboratory test for each individual test. Although there was no statistically significant improvement in individual cost prediction after the educational session, 2 laboratory values showed improvement in margins of error post intervention: alanine aminotransferase/aspartate aminotransferase and lipids (P = .008 and .014, respectively). Conclusions: Pharmacists and pharmacy residents poorly predicted the costs of common laboratory tests. A brief lecture discussing the cost of laboratory tests demonstrated minor improvement in pharmacy residents' knowledge of the costs reviewed. Pharmacists need to be educated on the cost of laboratory tests to better understand the profession's contribution to health care expenditures.

Keywords: health care costs; laboratory; pharmacist.