Changes in Medical Safety Interventions Conducted by Ward-based Pharmacists since the Introduction of Their Services in Complex Medical Ward

Abstract

Despite an increase in the number of reports on medical safety interventions conducted by ward-based pharmacists, only a few reports have classiˆed intervention cases in detail. We classiˆed and compared the types of medical safety intervention conducted by ward-based pharmacists since the introduction of their services. The interventions were classied into: cases that were identiˆed by pharmacists or through asking questions about physicians' prescriptions before dispensing medications (active interventions); and those in which pharmacy technicians could contribute to medical safety by receiving inquiries from patients or healthcare providers (passive interventions). The numbers of the two types of intervention were compared. The number of interventions signiˆcantly increased after the introduction of ward-based clinical pharmacy services. Especially, the numbers of cases identiˆed during ward rounds conducted by ward-based pharmacists (active interventions) and those identiˆed by receiving inquiries from physicians or nurses (passive interventions) signiˆcantly increased, possibly because the collection of patient information was performed more e‹ciently by conducting ward rounds, and an environment where physicians and nurses can easily make inquiries to pharmacists was established after increasing the time pharmacists spend on hospital wards. The results demonstrate that the introduction of ward-based clinical pharmacy services has improved communication with patients, facilitated information-sharing among physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers, contributed to the safer management of pharmaceutical operations, and increased interest of patients.