AlKhanbashi RO, AlNoamy Y, Ghandorah R, Awan RM, AlButi H. Assessment of clinical pharmacist interventions using a web-based application in a Saudi Arabian Tertiary Hospital.
SAGE Open Med 2024;
12:20503121241233217. [PMID:
38410373 PMCID:
PMC10896045 DOI:
10.1177/20503121241233217]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Objectives
Medication-related problems are a top concern of clinical pharmacists. Medication-related problems can cause patient harm and increase the number of visits, hospital admissions, and length of hospital stay. The objective was to assess clinical pharmacy medication-related problem-related interventions in a tertiary care setting.
Methods
A retrospective cohort study was conducted at King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) between June 2021 and June 2022. The data were extracted monthly from a new web-based Microsoft Excel application documenting medication-related problems during any stage of the medication use process.
Results
A total of 5310 medication-related problem-related interventions in 1494 patients were performed. The departments associated with the highest frequency of medication-related problem-related interventions were the critical care unit (26.9%), intensive care unit (23.8%), anticoagulation clinic (17.1%), medical ward (11.3%), and nephrology unit (6.8%). The most common type of medication-related problem-related interventions included inappropriate dosage regimens (25.6%), monitoring drug effect or therapeutic drug monitoring (24.4%), requirement of additional drug therapy (21.9%), and inappropriate drug selection (14.1%). The proposed interventions were accepted by physicians in 97% of the incidents. The most frequent medication classes associated with medication-related problem-related interventions were cardiovascular agents (47.6%), antimicrobial agents (27.2%), and nutrition and blood substitute agents (11.4%). The most frequent medication groups associated with medication-related problem-related interventions were anticoagulants (25.6%) and antibiotics (25.2%).
Conclusions
The current findings characterize the medication-related problem-related interventions addressed in clinical pharmacy at a tertiary care setting. The high rate of physician acceptance emphasizes the integral patient safety role of clinical pharmacy services.
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