A study of the adaptive decision making ability of pharmacists when patient counseling using a process-tracing technique

This research studied the adaptive decision making process of pharmacists when deciding to counsel a patient on a prescription. The adaptive decision making model was described in 1993 and illustrates the three classes of factors that are believed to influence the strategy individuals use to problem-solve.; Nominal groups were asked to describe task and context effects that related to drug therapy, the patient and the prescription process. Once established, an information process-tracing technique called MouseLab was programmed. The first scenario was related to drug attributes. The second scenario was related to patient/product attributes and the third scenario was a mixture. Each scenario contained four schematics. The four schematics were programmed to have low task complexity, low complexity with time pressure, high complexity, and high complexity with time pressure.; Eighty-one Ohio pharmacists participated. The sample was stratified by years of experience and rural versus urban practice. A demographic survey was completed. MouseLab traced the predecisional process. The data was analyzed using three dependent variables. PATTERN looked at alternative versus attribute-based patterns. The variance (VATT) and the time per acquisition of information (TPERACQ) were indicators of compensatory and noncompensatory processing.; The MouseLab was effective in determining that pharmacists used an attribute-based approach to acquiring information. When task complexity was introduced, the pharmacists changed from compensatory to noncompensatory processes. The levels of professional experience and practice location were not contributing factors. The attributes used in the decision process were indication, patient age, drug interactions, adverse reactions, new versus refill, and the number of medications. This has important implications as it relates to task complexity issues affecting the decision process of the pharmacist.