Effect of Allocation of Ward Pharmacists on Interventions and Consultations

Abstract

At the University of Tokyo hospital, we began allocation of ward pharmacists to some wards in August 2012 and to all wards in August 2014. In this study, we qualitatively and quantitatively reviewed cases reported by ward pharmacists to evaluate the effects of this allocation on intervention and consultation that required positive participation. We retrospectively reviewed the pharmaceutical interventions＇ record from April 2012 through March 2015. We also analyzed cases for three months after the allocation of pharmacists to every ward. We found a highly positive correlation (R 2 = 0.928, P < 0.0001) between the number of wards and pharmaceutical interventions. Intervention cases per month increased by 21.5 after allocating a pharmacist to a ward. There were a total of 2,438 intervention cases over three months. Active and passive approaches were employed in 1,833 cases and 605 cases, respectively. High-risk medicines were associated with 39.3％ of cases. The prescription change rate was 86.2％ for active interventions and 50.9％ for passive interventions. Results showed that the allocation of a ward pharmacist could assist pharmaceutical approaches through the evaluation of patient complaints and clinical conditions, participation in the treatment plan, and consultation from medical staff. There were also reports that an active approach led to critical adverse event avoidance and pharmacotherapy effect improvement. These findings suggest that the allocation of ward pharmacists results in the promotion of healthcare services and medical safety.