benefits of pharmacist’s participation on hospitalist team

this study was performed to assess the incidence of medication errors and irrational use of human albumin in two wards of our hospital and also aimed to evaluate the ability of pharmaceutical care center and pharmacists in improving patient care. albumin administration was evaluated for patients who received albumin during the study period, in gastroenterology and general surgery wards. the indications for albumin administration were evaluated on the basis of reliable guidelines. the prescribing errors were simultaneously evaluated by reviewing patients’ medical records. prescribing errors were defined as selecting improper drug (based on indications, contraindications, known allergies, drug-class duplications and drug-drug interactions), dose, dosage form, and route of administration. it was found that 465 containers of human albumin solution 20 % were used for 54 patients treated in gastroenterology and general surgery wards of our hospital. a total of 306 (65.81%) vials of the albumin administrations were in concordance with the reliable protocol. the cost of irrational use of this drug (159 vials) for patients is equivalent to $ 8215. from 609 reviewed cases, 81 prescribing errors were detected in 64 patients. this study showed that the pharmacists were effective in identifying irrational drug use and medication errors.