Survey of physicians regarding clinical pharmacy services in academic emergency departments

The prevalence and nature of clinical pharmacy services in academic emergency departments (EDs) were studied.

A Web-based survey instrument consisting of questions regarding clinical pharmacy services available in the ED was developed based on a review of the current literature and expert consensus. The revised instrument was sent to a representative of all emergency medicine (EM) residency programs listed in the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine residency catalog in June 2006. The survey included questions addressing characteristics of the institution and the availability and nature of various pharmacy services in the ED. EM physicians were deliberately targeted so that the results would represent the ED staff's perceptions of their use of pharmacy services. Only respondents' primary residency hospital sites were considered. Data were compiled and analyzed using descriptive statistics and 95% confidence intervals.

Of the 135 EM residency programs surveyed, 99 responses (73%) were received. Eight percent of institutions reported that a dedicated pharmacist was available in the ED 24 hours a day, 22% reported partial coverage in the ED, and 70% reported no coverage. Six percent reported the presence of a satellite pharmacy located in the ED that was staffed by a pharmacist. The most common clinical pharmacy services reported in EDs with pharmacy coverage were modification of inventory according to formulary status, provision of drug or toxicology information, and adverse-drug-event reporting.

A minority of respondents from academic EDs reported that clinical services are provided by a pharmacist working in the ED.