Cost implications of and potential adverse events prevented by interventions of a critical care pharmacist

The cost implications of and potential adverse events prevented by the interventions of a critical care pharmacist were studied.

A decentralized clinical pharmacist assigned to a surgical intensive care unit (ICU) documented all interventions made from mid-October 2003 through February 2004 using a standardized written form. The data were retrospectively evaluated and the following information was extracted: amount of time spent performing various clinical activities, how drug-related problems were identified (e.g., order entry versus chart review), and a general description of the interventions. The interventions were independently reviewed by two other clinical pharmacists to determine whether an actual or potential adverse drug event (ADE) would have occurred without the intervention, the probability that an ADE would have occurred without the intervention, the type of intervention, and potential cost avoidance of the intervention. Once the evaluations were completed, the data obtained from order entry and verification activities were compared with the data obtained during other clinical functions.

A total of 129 interventions were documented over 4.5 months. The majority of interventions were identified during chart review (40%) and patient care rounds (39%). The potential cost avoidance of the documented interventions was $205,919-$280,421. Interventions identified during patient care rounds and chart review were most likely to achieve the greatest impact on cost avoidance.

Among the interventions performed and documented by a clinical pharmacist in an ICU, patient care rounds and chart-review activities were associated with the greatest number of interventions and the greatest potential cost avoidance.