2014 Volume 40 Issue 1 Pages 8-16
We studied the risk avoidance effect on prescriptions by clinical pharmacists and the awareness among physicians and nurses about the risk control conducted by pharmacists.
The design is a prospective observation study in a single community hospital over a 10-month period.
Main outcome measures were the risk avoidance ratio among total cases in which pharmacists determined whether the inquiries on prescriptions were related to effective risk avoidance on a real-time basis.
During the study period, there were 397 inquiries. The ratio in which the physicians accepted the recommendation through the inquiries was 80.5%. And 58.9% of the total inquiries were evaluated as effective for the risk avoidance of adverse drug effects and events. As far as medication counseling is concerned, the rate of acceptance was 81.2%, and the rate of risk avoidance was 72.7%. The occurrence of medication changes followed by the inquiries was 17 cases a month on average, which was well above that of a nationwide survey conducted in 2010.
Following the questionnaire about the ward pharmacist system, all the physicians and nurses have had experience in consulting with pharmacists and were familiar with the system. Through the consultations, 80% of physicians and 90% of nurses responded that they were able to avoid the risk. As compared with another survey, the risk reduction and avoidance based on pharmacological management were highly evaluated as an advantage of the ward pharmacist system similarly.
We conclude that the risk avoidance effect by ward pharmacists was explicit and evaluated highly by physicians and nurses.
