A Systematic Review of Outcomes Research in the Hospital Pharmacists’ Interventions in South Korea

Abstract

Background and Objective: Since the introduction of hospital pharmacy residency programs in 1983, hospital pharmacists in South Korea have been expected to expand their roles. However, their services and the outcomes have not been fully understood. In this study, we conducted a systematic review of Korean hospital pharmacist-provided interventions with regard to intervention type, intervention consequences, and target patient groups. Methods: A literature search of the following databases was performed: Embase, PubMed, Medline, KoreaMed, RISS, KMbase, KISS, NDSL, and KISTI. The search words were "hospital pharmacist", "clinical pharmacist", and "Korea". Articles reporting clinical or economic outcome measures that resulted from hospital pharmacist interventions were considered. Numeric measures for the acceptance rate of pharmacist recommendations were subjected to meta-analysis. Results: Of the 1,683 articles searched, 44 met the inclusion selection criteria. Most articles were published after 2000 (81.8%) and focused on clinical outcomes. Economic outcomes had been published since 2011. The interventions were classified as patient education, multidisciplinary team work, medication assessment, and guideline development. The outcome measures were physicians' prescription changes, clinical outcomes, patient adherence, economic outcomes, and quality of life. The acceptance rate was 80.5% (p < 0.005). Conclusion: Studies on pharmacist interventions have increased and showed increased patient health benefits and reduced medical costs at Korean hospital sites. Because pharmacists' professional competency would be recognized if the economic outcomes of their work were confirmed and justified, studies on their clinical performance should also include their economic impact.

The Effect of a Computerized Pharmacist Communication Application-based SBAR Tool

“…This result was higher than 80.5% which was the result from a meta-analysis of acceptance rates in pharmacists' intervention in Korea. 5) To date, the range of reported acceptance rates has been very wide. The acceptance rate in the intensive care unit (ICU) team was as high as 99%, and the rate in the ICU and bone marrow transplant ward was 92.8%.…”

“…In a recent literature review, the acceptance rate of physicians on hospital pharmacists' intervention activities had reached 80.5%. 5) Pharmacists communicate with a variety of experts, physicians, nurses, and others to prevent medication errors. Therefore, pharmacists must have practical communication skills.…”