Evaluation of patient-care interventions by Pharm.D. clerkship students

A program is described in which Pharm.D. clerkship students provide pharmaceutical care by identifying drug-related problems, suggesting interventions to solve the problems, and documenting the patient's outcome. Four doctor of pharmacy degree students under the direct guidance of a clinical pharmacy preceptor suggested 231 patient-care interventions during their clinical rotations; 219 (94.8%) of the interventions were either fully or partially accepted by the prescriber. The most commonly solved drug-related problems were underdose (31.5%) and overdose (17.4%), followed by untreated indications (14.1%) and drug given without indication (13.7%). The remainder of the drug-related problems that the students solved were improper drug selection, failure to receive drug, adverse drug reactions, or drug interactions. All but 10 interventions were considered by preceptors to be significant contributions to patient care. The interventions were estimated to have decreased drug costs in 50.7% of the cases, increased drug costs in 23.7% of the cases, and not changed drug costs in 25.6% of the cases. Patient outcomes were documented by the students in 58.9% of cases; the desired goals of the accepted intervention were achieved in all documented cases. A preceptor-supervised intervention program was beneficial to Pharm.D. students and patients and was well received by prescribers.