Pharmaceutical care in medical progressive care patients.

OBJECTIVE: To develop, implement, and assess the outcomes of a system for providing pharmaceutical care to medical progressive care patients. METHODS: A system for providing pharmaceutical care was developed and implemented for an 8-week period beginning in June 1995. Both patient care outcomes and drug therapy cost change from the intervention period were compared with those of an 8-week baseline period. Variables compared included unit length of stay, hospital length of stay, transfers to the intensive care unit, readmissions, and adverse drug reactions requiring treatment. Differences between periods for these variables were assessed by using chi 2 tests and t-tests with alpha set at p less than 0.05. The clinical significance of the interventions were assessed independently by four physicians: two intensivists and two internists. The total drug therapy cost change from the intervention period was calculated as follows: total cost avoidance from individual recommendations subtracted from the total cost incurred from individual recommendations. RESULTS: The pharmacist evaluated 152 patients during the intervention period. A total of 235 pharmacotherapy recommendations were made on 103 patients, of whom 86.4% were accepted. Significantly fewer adverse drug reactions (ADRs) received treatment during the intervention period (p = 0.027). The mean unit length of stay was lower during the intervention period (4.8 +/- 3.7 d) than during the baseline period (6.0 +/- 5.6 d); however, this difference was not significant (p = 0.053). Individual physician assessment of the pharmacists' recommendations revealed that 75.8% were considered somewhat significant, significant, or very significant. The total drug therapy cost change from the intervention period was -$6534.53. The projected annual drug therapy cost reduction from this study is $42,474.45. CONCLUSIONS: The provision of pharmaceutical care to medical progressive care patients was associated with a substantial decrease in drug therapy cost and a decrease in the number of ADRs that required treatment.

Patient-teaching program for home intravenous antimicrobial therapy.

The development of a home i.v. antimicrobial therapy program and associated procedures for patient teaching are described. The pharmacy department at a 940-bed, acute-care, general medical-surgical teaching hospital participated with four other departments in the development of standardized teaching methods for a home i.v. antimicrobial therapy program. The pharmacy and nursing departments each developed sections of a home antimicrobial therapy manual. Over a 16-month period, i.v. antimicrobial therapy was prescribed for 37 patients who were discharged from the hospital. Most patients or their care-givers were able to prepare and administer the medications. After the patient was discharged, the pharmacy department offered services such as supplying medications, coordinating pharmacokinetic dosing, providing drug information, and acting as a patient contact. Hospitals that provide home i.v. antimicrobial therapy should coordinate the resources of the various departments involved to develop standardized patient-teaching methods.

Improving patient-oriented pharmacy services: panel discussion.

A panel discussed ways to improve patient-oriented pharmacy services, drawing on the proceedings of a recent conference on directions for clinical practice in pharmacy. Clinical pharmacy should be defined in terms of responsibility rather than by a list of specific functions. Pharmacists are responsible for drug use, not just for dispensing; this implies responsibility for educating physicians and nurses to ensure optimal patient outcomes. Clinical practice cannot be separated from pharmacy practice; although pharmacy practice requires different kinds of tasks, all have the goal of patient care. Pharmacists can exercise their responsibility for control of drug use without prescriptive authority or mandated review of physician prescribing. Pharmacists can increase their influence on drug therapy through the formulary system and through their physical presence on patient-care units. A mission statement that recognizes responsibility for patient outcomes can serve as the basis for a management system that supports clinical practice. The panel members believed that pharmacy leaders at the conference were unified by a commitment to increase the profession's clinical orientation.

Videotaped patient medication instruction program using closed-circuit television.

A program is described in which hospital patients receive videotaped medication instruction that is reinforced by printed information. In a 940-bed hospital, the pharmacy department developed a series of videotapes for closed-circuit television. Each tape covers a medication or drug class and includes use of the drug, precautions, administration instructions, and adverse effects. Pharmacists developed the basic test, and the patient education department revised the language to meet the needs of patients. Pharmacists presented the information on the tapes, which were produced by the hospital's video production department. File cards that paraphrased the script were designed to give patients written information to take home. Each tape is shown once daily. The tape includes the pharmacy phone number and encourages patients to call the pharmacy to obtain a card. A pharmacist delivers the cards and reviews the information. In this program, information can be presented to a large number of patients with minimal use of pharmacists' time.

Gentamicin and tobramycin dosing guidelines: an evaluation.

The provision of pharmacokinetic dosing services has become a cornerstone of clinical pharmacy practice in many institutions. As these services expand, more pharmacists will become involved, and the need for a structured, uniform approach to the provision of these services may be necessary. Therefore, this article discusses specific approaches (i.e., guidelines) to the most common clinical conditions that the pharmacist may encounter. The goal is to promote consistent interpretation and application of clinical and kinetic data by the members of our aminoglycoside dosing service. The guidelines provide a structured yet adaptive approach to the clinical use of gentamicin and tobramycin. The major areas of controversy that were encountered in developing these guidelines are discussed, and the guidelines are presented. These guidelines currently are used to standardize our pharmacokinetic dosing service and as a tool for educating new pharmacists to their role and responsibilities as members of the pharmacokinetic consultation team. Additionally, these guidelines are being used as criteria for the assessment of quality assurance in the area of clinical pharmacokinetics.

Clinical pharmacist impact on parenteral cephalosporin prescribing.

A study was undertaken to evaluate clinical pharmacist influence on parenteral cephalosporin prescribing patterns. Two intervention methods were evaluated: (1) publication of pharmacy newsletter for physicians containing specific recommendations and emphasizing the primary use of cefazolin, and (2) personal interaction between the clinical pharmacy staff and physicians promoting the recommendations outlined in the newsletter. These two methods were compared with each other as well as with an initial time span during which no influencing efforts were made. The effect of the pharmacy newsletter as a sole means of influencing physician prescribing of parenteral cephalosporins was minimal. The effect of pharmacist-physician interaction, either as a sole means of in conjunction with a pharmacy newsletter, resulted in an increased use of cefazolin. An annual cost savings of up to $11,265.88 was projected. The results indicate that physicians can be influenced in their prescribing of parenteral cephalosporins, leading to significant cost savings.

Controlled comparison of gentamicin and tobramycin nephrotoxicity.

317 patients with suspected or documented infections other than cystitis were randomly assigned to receive gentamicin or tobramycin dosed according to the Sawchuk/Zaske method or a modification of the McHenry method. 196 patients completed 6 days of therapy, had serial determinations of serum creatinine and were evaluated for nephrotoxicity. Within each dosing method group those patients receiving gentamicin and tobramycin had a similar mean age, initial serum creatinine level, total dose, duration of therapy and trough serum aminoglycoside concentration. Nephrotoxicity developed in 5 of 49 (10.2%) given gentamicin via the McHenry method compared to 9 of 49 (18.4%) given tobramycin. Similarily, 4 of 50 (8.0%) given gentamicin via the Sawchuk/Zaske method developed nephrotoxicity compared to 8 of 48 (16.7%) given tobramycin. Within the Sawchuk/Zaske and the modified McHenry dosing method groups, no significant difference was noted in the incidence of nephrotoxicity associated with gentamicin and tobramycin. 34% of patients with elevated trough serum aminoglycoside concentrations developed nephrotoxicity compared to 3.7% of those with nonelevated troughs (p less than 0.0005).

Development of competency standards for quality assurance in clinical pharmacokinetics.

In response to an editorial in Hospital Pharmacy which called for "in-house credentialling" of pharmacists engaged in the application of clinical pharmacokinetics, a method of introducing quality assurance in pharmacokinetics is presented. The evolution of a pharmacokinetic dosing service in which each pharmacist is responsible for the provision of dosage recommendations on his/her patient care area is discussed, along with the difficulties which had to be overcome in order to establish uniform guidelines for our clinical pharmacy staff to follow when providing this service. Finally, the establishment of acceptable levels of competence, means of obtaining those levels, and methods for the determination of competence are presented.

Perceived clinical significance of consultant pharmacist recommendations in the skilled nursing facility.

In an attempt to determine if pharmacists could make significant contributions to SNF patient care in the area of disease management, the drug therapy of the residents of two SNFs was reviewed once monthly for six months by two clinical pharmacist consultants. Pharmacist-identified problems and recommendations were communicated in writing to the medical staff by means of a communication form attached to the patient's chart. Nearly 72 percent of the recommendations made were accepted by the SNF physicians. Descriptions of the cases and corresponding recommendations were distributed to review-panel physicians. These physicians were asked to agree or disagree with the pharmacists' suggestions, and to rate the clinical significance of each recommendation using a modified Likert scale. The clinical pharmacist-consultants were perceived to have had a significant input into disease management in SNF patients.

Training staff pharmacists for clinical positions.

A five-phase education and training program for establishing and maintaining the clinical competency of pharmacists in a 940-bed private, nonprofit hospital is described. In Phase 1 of the program, pharmacists are given selected textbook and journal materials in 15 study sections, each requiring 20--30 hours of the pharmacist's own time to complete. Phase 2 consists of two months of instruction in the daily clinical routine with emphasis on applying knowledge by investigating clinical problems through case presentation and by answering questions of health professionals. During Phase 3, the pharmacist is assigned to a patient-care area for two months to perform the duties of a clinical pharmacist. The pharmacist is assigned to the drug information center for two months during Phase 4. Phase 5, the year-round continuing education component of the program, consists of regularly scheduled clinical rounds, meetings and conferences. Upon completion of Phases 1--4, pharmacists selected for clinical positions provide clinical services for eight to 10 months and rotate to the pharmacy distribution area during the remaining two to four months per year. The education and training program described is important to the development and expansion of clinical services in this hospital.