Characteristics of Pediatric Clinical Interventions Documented by a School of Pharmacy.

Abstract

Documentation of interventions by pharmacists has become a standard of practice in clinical practice sites. Pharmacists' interventions in pediatric practice settings for short periods of time have been reported in the literature. A single study has described faculty and student interventions in the pediatric setting. The objective of this study was to characterize 4 years of interventions by faculty and students of a school of pharmacy that occurred at various pediatric practice sites throughout a state. Pharmacy practice faculty and fourth year student pharmacists are required to document clinical interventions during advanced pharmacy practice experiences. Interventions are documented in a single, commercially available, Web-based system. Reports of interventions with cost avoidance at pediatric inpatient and outpatient practice sites throughout a state from 2011 to 2014 were collected and analyzed. Data were sorted based on year, practice site, type, and number of activities and interventions, and estimated cost avoidance. Two full-time faculty members practiced in pediatrics and, on average, 25 students entered interventions at pediatric sites each year. A total of 12,784 interventions were documented by faculty and students over the 4-year period, with students entering 81.8% of the interventions and 69% occurring in the inpatient setting. Total cost avoidance for all 4 years was $1,684,609. The most frequent interventions were patient medication history, patient counseling, allergy information clarified, drug therapy adjusted, and drug information. Pharmacy faculty and students documented various types of clinical interventions in the inpatient and outpatient pediatric settings and demonstrated a positive impact at pediatric practice sites throughout a state, as well as cost avoidance in the associated healthcare systems.