The Difference in Pharmacists’ Interventions across the Diverse Settings in a Children’s Hospital

AIMS This study aimed to document and compare the nature of clinical pharmacists' interventions made in different practice settings within a children's hospital. METHODS The primary investigator observed and documented all clinical interventions performed by clinical pharmacists for between 35-37 days on each of the five study wards from the three practice settings, namely general medical, general surgical and hematology-oncology. The rates, types and significance of the pharmacists' interventions in the different settings were compared. RESULTS A total of 982 interventions were documented, related to the 16,700 medication orders reviewed on the five wards in the three practice settings over the duration of the study. Taking medication histories and/or patient counselling were the most common pharmacists' interventions in the general settings; constituting more than half of all interventions. On the Hematology-Oncology Ward the pattern was different with drug therapy changes being the most common interventions (n = 73/195, 37.4% of all interventions). Active interventions (pharmacists' activities leading to a change in drug therapy) constituted less than a quarter of all interventions on the general medical and surgical wards compared to nearly half on the specialty Hematology-Oncology Ward. The majority (n = 37/42, 88.1%) of a random sample of the active interventions reviewed were rated as clinically significant. Dose adjustment was the most frequent active interventions in the general settings, whilst drug addition constituted the most common active interventions on the Hematology-Oncology Ward. The degree of acceptance of pharmacists' active interventions by prescribers was high (n = 223/244, 91.4%). CONCLUSIONS The rate of pharmacists' active interventions differed across different practice settings, being most frequent in the specialty hematology-oncology setting. The nature and type of the interventions documented in the hematology-oncology were also different compared to those in the general medical and surgical settings.