Analysis of Cost Avoidance From Pharmacy Students' Clinical Interventions at a Psychiatric Hospital

Abstract

Objective. To analyze the cost avoidance resulting from clinical interventions made by pharmacy students completing an advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) at a psychiatric hospital. Methods. A retrospective database review of documented clinical interventions by pharmacy students was conducted to classify interventions by type and significance. Interventions were assigned a cost avoidance value determined by an evaluation of the literature. Results. Three hundred-twenty interventions were documented by 15 pharmacy students during the 1-year study period. The majority of interventions were related to psychiatric medication classes and most (n 5 197; 61.6%) were classified as being of moderate significance. The most common interventions included patient education (13.1%), order clarification (11.6%), therapeutic dosing adjustments (10.9%), and laboratory order monitoring (8.8%). The estimated cost avoidance from all interventions made by pharmacy students was approximately $23,000. Conclusions. Pharmacy students completing APPEs at a psychiatric hospital contributed to a variety of significant clinical interventions and provided considerable cost avoidance value to the institution.

Student Pharmacists’ Clinical Interventions in Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences at a Community Nonteaching Hospital

“…Most published studies report the impact of student pharmacists in teaching institutions, [3][4][7][8][9][10] although some do not specify the teaching status of the site. 2,6 These studies have evaluated students in a variety of APPEs, including ambulatory care, internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry.…”

“…[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Student pharmacists have had a significant impact in improving patient care and in providing cost savings to the institution. While at the experiential practice sites, each student pharmacist made an average of 1.2 to 16 recommendations per week to prescribers, with an acceptance rate of 32% to 98%.…”

Selecting a Clinical Intervention Documentation System for an Academic Setting

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Role of Pharmacy on Alteration of Drug Cost and Drug-Related Problem Prevention for the National Health Insurance Geriatric Outpatient

“…8 Cost avoidance refers to an intervention that reduces or eliminates additional expenditure that otherwise may have been incurred in the absence of the intervention. 9 Indonesia has just taken a significant step in its efforts to roll out universal healthcare by established National Health Insurance (NHI) since 1 January 2014. NHI is a health insurance program carried out by the Indonesian government.…”