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...

INTRODUCTION Patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) are at high risk for prescribing errors and related adverse drug events (ADEs). An effective intervention to decrease this risk, based on studies conducted mainly in North America, is on-ward participation of a clinical pharmacist in an ICU team. As the Dutch Healthcare System is organized differently and the on-ward role of hospita...

Background The progress in aging and the shortage of physicians is a significant problem in Japan. Hence, healthcare professionals including pharmacists should cooperate to provide medical services with limited resources. However, pharmacists might have inadequate skills in taking medical histories. Therefore, we developed an interview tool to collect accurate medical history. In this study, we...

We estimated the cost and cost-effectiveness of a clinical pharmacist intervention known to improve the appropriateness of drug prescribing. Elderly veteran outpatients prescribed at least five drugs were randomized to an intervention (105 patients) or control (103) group and followed for 1 year. The intervention pharmacist provided advice to patients and their physicians during all general med...

BACKGROUND Pharmacist intervention in improving patient adherence to antidepressants is coupled with better outcomes. AIMS The aim of this investigation was to systematically examine the published literature to explore different types of pharmacist interventions used for enhancing patient adherence to antidepressant medications. Three specific questions guided the review: what is the impact o...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether a pharmacist can effectively review repeat prescriptions through consultations with elderly patients in general practice. DESIGN Randomised controlled trial of clinical medication review by a pharmacist against normal general practice review. SETTING Four general practices. PARTICIPANTS 1188 patients aged 65 or over who were receiving at least one repeat pre...

BACKGROUND Osteoporosis-related fractures are a considerable economic burden on the U.S. health care system. Since 2008, the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services have adopted a Medicare Part C Five-Star Quality Rating measure to ensure that a woman's previously unaddressed osteoporosis is managed appropriately after a fracture. Despite the effort to improve this gap in care, the 2013 CMS plan...

PURPOSE Results of a study to determine the number of interventions unrelated to anticoagulation made in a pharmacist-managed anticoagulation clinic are presented. METHODS A retrospective, single-center cohort was conducted in a hospital-affiliated outpatient pharmacist-managed anticoagulation clinic. Patients were ≥18 years old and attended at least one face-to-face appointment between Janua...

PURPOSE Poor medication adherence in adolescents with asthma results in poorly controlled disease and increased morbidity. The aim of the ADolescent Adherence Patient Tool (ADAPT) study is to develop an mHealth intervention to support self-management and to evaluate the effectiveness in improving medication adherence and asthma control. INTERVENTION The ADAPT intervention consists of an inter...

BACKGROUND Approximately half of patients with chronic cardiometabolic conditions are nonadherent with their prescribed medications. Interventions to improve adherence have been only modestly effective because they often address single barriers to adherence, intervene at single points in time, or are imprecisely targeted to patients who may not need adherence assistance. OBJECTIVE To evaluate...