Evaluation of the role of the critical care pharmacist in identifying and avoiding or minimizing significant drug-drug interactions in medical intensive care patients
Abstract
The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of prospective review of significant drug-drug interactions (DDIs) occurring in medical intensive care unit (MICU) patients by the critical care pharmacist participating in patient care rounds on improvement of safer and more efficacious medication use. A prospective consecutive 10-week study was conducted in the MICU, St Luke's/Roosevelt Hospital Center (St Luke's site), New York, NY. This study compared baseline period when clinical pharmacist services were not provided with the period when each patient's profile was reviewed daily during MICU rounds and interactions were minimized. The study examined whether the presence of critical care pharmacist would decrease the number of significant DDIs in the MICU. Impact of decreasing presence of severe DDIs on length of stay (LOS) and discharge status was also evaluated. Having a pharmacist on rounds resulted in statistically significant decrease in number of clinically important interactions requiring therapy modification, rated D-X (Poisson regression B = -1.036; 95% confidence interval, -1.318 to -0.753; P < .01). The coefficient (-1.036) indicates the incidence rate ratio of 0.35, meaning that the presence of clinical pharmacist i...Continue Reading
References
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Antiarrhythmic Agents: Mechanisms of Action
Understanding the mechanism of action of antiarrhythmic agents is essential in developing new medications as treatment of cardiac arrhythmias is currently limited by the reduced availability of safe and effective drugs. Discover the latest research on Antiarrhythmic Agents: Mechanism of Action here.
Antipsychotic Drugs
Antipsychotic drugs are a class of medication primarily used to manage psychosis (including delusions, hallucinations, paranoia or disordered thought), principally in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Discover the latest research on antipsychotic drugs here