Impact of expanding the clinical pharmacy service in the emergency department at Hamad General Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Qatar: A cross-sectional audit

Abstract

Background: The emergency department (ED) is a complex environment presenting unique challenges for high-risk populations such as critically ill patients who often require the use of high-risk medications. One study suggests that clinical pharmacists (CPs) may improve the fulfillment of safety goals for the ED patient as per the Joint International Commission. Some published reports have asserted that ED-based CPs would have the potential to increase patient safety. In our hospital, the number of CPs covering the ED increased from 2 to 9 starting from November 2019. Methods: This is a retrospective audit covering the period from January 1st 2019 till October 25th 2020 at Hamad General Hospital (HGH) in Doha, Qatar, to determine the impact of increasing the number of CPs covering the ED on the number of identified, solved, and documented drug related problems (DRPs) on the electronic medical records of ED patients. The interventions retrieved from pharmacy reports were analyzed and evaluated in terms of numbers by classification and percentages by the investigators. Results: A total number of 8,946 interventions covering 6,284 patients were carried out in 2020 compared with 1,515 interventions covering 1,001 patients in 2019 which represents a 6-fold increment by increasing the CPs from 2 to 9. Even the detection of adverse drug reactions increased by 1.5 times with only 38 documented in 2019 compared to 64 in 2020. Classifications and quantities of interventions were also analyzed in detail. Conclusion: This audit demonstrates that pharmaceutical intervention can positively contribute to the identification and resolution of DRPs. The benefit of CP involvement in patient care was observed based on the number of interventions that occurred. Studies are needed to assess the impact of those interventions on patients’ outcomes and cost effectiveness.