Implementation of a School-wide Clinical Intervention Documentation System

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness and impact of a customized Web-based software program implemented in 2006 for school-wide documentation of clinical interventions by pharmacy practice faculty members, pharmacy residents, and student pharmacists. Methods. The implementation process, directed by a committee of faculty members and school administrators, included preparation and refinement of the software, user training, development of forms and reports, and integration of the documentation process within the curriculum. Results. Use of the documentation tool consistently increased from May 2007 to December 2010. Over 187,000 interventions were documented with over $6.2 million in associated cost avoidance. Conclusions. Successful implementation of a school-wide documentation tool required considerable time from the oversight committee and a comprehensive training program for all users, with ongoing monitoring of data collection practices. Data collected proved to be useful to show the impact of faculty members, residents, and student pharmacists at affiliated training sites.

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

“…[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%.…”

“…2,6 These studies have evaluated students in a variety of APPEs, including ambulatory care, internal medicine, pediatrics, and psychiatry. Although academic medical centers are ideal sites for training student pharmacists, community nonteaching hospitals are viable training sites for student pharmacists given the growing need for experiential education sites and the limited availability of teaching hospitals in certain geographic locations.…”

Cost Savings Associated With Pharmacy Student Interventions During APPEs

“…Other similar Web-based systems such as Quntifi and PxDx have been used at other institutions. 15,16 The documentation program allowed students to enter the type of intervention made and whether it was accepted by the primary health care practitioner. The program would then calculate a cost savings based on the intervention type and the drug involved.…”

“…1 However, pharmacy students are capable of providing meaningful clinical services for the practice sites and can generate financial savings, which have been well documented in the literature. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Mersfelder and Bouthillier published a review of these studies dating back to the early 1990s. 17 Most either enrolled few students or were conducted over a relatively short period of time, often just a few months.…”

Information Technology and Pharmacy Education

“…The academy faces similar challenges in demonstrating the impact and value of students and practice faculty members at experiential sites. The first paper, by Stevenson and colleagues, 5 addresses this challenge in describing one pharmacy program's process and results of implementing a clinical intervention documentation system, including clinical and financial data from several years of usage. The second paper addresses implementation of a decidedly different technology: video conferencing.…”