Document Type
Presentation
Date of Original Version
2020
Department
Pharmacy Practice
Abstract
Background
Studies have shown that the addition of clinical pharmacy services to general medicine wards improves patient outcomes by decreasing adverse drug events and hospital stay and increasing correct medication use and compliance. Pharmacy students on Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs) in clinical settings reduced costs through recognition of medication errors and adverse drug reactions. This study serves to add to existing literature by analyzing student pharmacist interventions in order to demonstrate the importance of implementing clinical pharmacy services into interdisciplinary teams within medical settings.
Objective
To describe the distribution of intervention categories made by nine student pharmacists in Veterans on the general medicine floors at the Providence VA Medical Center (PVAMC) from May 2019 to March 2020.
Methods
Student pharmacists on the PVAMC general medicine floors were required to document and describe the clinical interventions they made while on their APPE rotation. This de-identified data was classified into one of 11 categories from the Pharmacists Achieve Results with Medications Demonstration (PhARMD) tool. Inclusion criteria: Veterans admitted to the PVAMC general medicine floors from May 2019 to March 2020, who received an intervention from a student pharmacist.
Results
940 interventions were made over the study period with an 80% acceptance rate. Medication reconciliation, initiate medication, and identification of discrepancies were the most common interventions made followed by vaccination, adjust, discontinue, change agent, drug information, medication monitoring, medication counseling, and non-pharmacologic.
Conclusion
Previous studies have shown that the addition of clinical pharmacy services to general medicine wards improves patient outcomes. This study adds to the body of literature and shows that student pharmacists make high quality interventions with a high acceptance rate. Therefore, their participation on interdisciplinary teams allows for optimization of care among patients.
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Travelyn, H. & Asal, N. J. (2020). Types of Interventions Made by Student Pharmacists on a General Medicine Ward at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center [Poster presentation]. American College of Clinical Pharmacy Annual Meeting.