A brief analysis of clinical pharmacy interventions undertaken in an Australian teaching hospital

Selected clinical pharmacy interventions undertaken during a 30-day data capture period were analysed, seeking to gain a greater understanding of the nature of the drug-related problems involved. Pharmacists were asked to record only interventions that were of potentially major significance. A total of 67 interventions were submitted for analysis. In 28 cases (41.7% of the initial total) the intervention reports were excluded from further analysis after initial review. For the remaining 39 interventions, 20 patients (51%) were under the care of a medical unit, and cardiovascular/antithrombotic agents accounted for 17 reports (43.5%). The majority of interventions were implemented at the time of inpatient medication order review by the clinical pharmacist (n=25, 64%). The most common category of drug-related problem addressed in the interventions related to the prescription of inappropriately high doses of the correct drug for the patient (n=17, 43.6%). Deficiencies in technical knowledge accounted for less than 25% of all cases.