Pharmacists working in the multidisciplinary gynaecological oncology pre-admission clinic (PAC) are involved in the perioperative assessment of patients for a comprehensive medication history and information provision regarding withholding of medications before surgery. To evaluate the current services provided by pharmacists to multidisciplinary staff and patients attending the PAC. A staff and a patient feedback survey on the value and impact of PAC pharmacy services were distributed within the PAC. The impact of the PAC pharmacist was also assessed by analysing pharmacist interventions and key performance indicators documented. Fifteen staff responses were recorded, 5 nursing staff, 2 midwives and 8 anaesthetists. Eighty-seven percent (n = 13) strongly agreed or agreed that pharmacists at PAC help reduce medication errors on admission. Staff strongly agreed 73% (n = 11) pharmacists obtain a more accurate medication history. Staff reported benefits in having a pharmacist at the clinic to discuss medication related questions with 87% (n = 13) strongly agreeing or agreeing with the statement. A staff overall satisfaction rating of 4.87 out of 5 was recorded. In the patient survey, respondents (n = 6) gave a 4.83 out of 5 rating in confidence in making changes to their medication and their overall satisfaction with the service provided. In reviewing data from January to June 2022, the number of patients seen by the pharmacist were 178 of 681 patients (26.1%) who attended the clinic. The most common medications involved in the pharmacist intervention include those that were advised to be withheld and those that required other changes to therapy prior to their procedure. The role of a PAC pharmacist can be greatly appreciated by the multidisciplinary team and patients. Pharmacist interventions and key performance indicators have demonstrated the important activities of clinical pharmacy services in the PAC in optimising patient care in medication management.
24 December 2022 in Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy
Objective: Our initiative aimed to improve the system used to capture pharmacist clinical interventions to better support staff to document, manage and identify trends in medication-related problems (MRPs). The aim of the study was to develop an electronic tool which is easily accessible by most electronic devices with secure data storage and access. Methods: A REDCap® database was designed for documentation of pharmacy clinical interventions. Information documented can be retrieved in real-time and can be integrated to Microsoft Power BI® for real-time data visualisation. The dashboards were customised to display useful information including pharmacy clinical intervention details, common MRPs, common medications involved available to users at real time. Results: A total of 4343 interventions were documented from July 2022 to March 2023. The most common MRPs were omission of regular medications 876 (20.17%), condition untreated 722(16.62%), and contraindications apparent 451 (10.38%). The most common medications involved include iron 244 (5.62%), enoxaparin 231 (5.32%), macrogol laxatives 208 (4.79%), multivitamin 206 (4.74%), colecalciferol 179(4.12%), tramadol 156 (3.59%). Conclusion: This study demonstrated the significance of integration of health application tools of REDcap and Power BI in the data management and intelligent visual analytics and reporting.