BACKGROUND Clinical pharmacist interventions have been shown to have positive effect on occurrence of drug-related issues as well as on clinical outcomes. However, evidence about which patients benefiting most from the interventions is limited. We aimed to explore whether pharmacist intervention is equally effective in preventing emergency department (ED) visits in patients with few or many pre...

BACKGROUND There is evidence that pharmacist interventions improve clinical outcomes. The few studies that address economic outcomes (a) often report estimated instead of actual medical costs, (b) report only medication costs, or (c) have been conducted in settings that are not typical of community-based primary care. OBJECTIVES To (a) determine whether a clinical pharmacist's recommendations...

Reducing avoidable hospital admissions is a priority for the NHS. Medicines account for about 4–6.5 per cent of emergency admissions, 3 and causes related to medicines fall into three broad categories: adverse drug reactions,prescribing errors and poor compliance. In theory it should be possible to reduce the underpinning causes for these three types of problems, but evidence from randomised co...

Background Anticoagulant therapies provide management options for potentially life-threatening thromboembolic conditions. They also carry significant safety risks, requiring careful consideration of medication dose, close monitoring, and follow-up. Inpatients are particularly at risk, considering the widespread use of anticoagulants in hospitals. This has prompted the introduction of safety goa...

OBJECTIVE To assess the feasibility of clinical pharmacist-led CYP2C19 genotype-guided P2Y12 inhibitor antiplatelet drug therapy recommendations to cardiologists in an outpatient cardiology practice. METHODS This was a prospective, open-labeled, single-arm study conducted in an integrated healthcare delivery system between March 1, 2013 and January 23, 2014. Patients requiring non-emergent ca...

The St Paul’s Hospital Atrial Fibrillation Clinic opened in October 2009 with the mandate of streamlining care for patients with atrial fibrillation who have had suboptimal response to standard therapies and therefore require more complex medication management and/or radiofrequency ablation. The proven benefits of this treatment modality have resulted in broader use and hence long waiting lists...

BACKGROUND Non-adherence to antidepressants generates higher costs for the treatment of depression. Little is known about the cost-effectiveness of pharmacist's interventions aimed at improving adherence to antidepressants. The study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a community pharmacist intervention in comparison with usual care in depressed patients initiating treatment with antid...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the impact and cost-benefit value of pharmacist interventions for prophylactic antibiotic use in surgical patients undergoing clean or clean-contaminated operations. METHODS A pre-to-post intervention study was performed in the Department of Urological Surgery of a tertiary hospital. Patients admitted from January through June 2011, undergoing clean or clean-contaminate...

backgrounds : drug related problems can be defined as any event (or) circumstance involving the drug treatment, which interferes or potentially interferes with the patient in achieving an optimum outcome of medical care. the aim of the study was to identify drug therapy problems and to assess the pharmacist interventions in patients with cardiovascular diseases. methods: the inpatient case reco...