[Economic impact of pharmacist's interventions: illustration in a rheumatology ward]

Drug-related problems represent a major problem for public health. Beyond the health consequences, we have to take into account the cost of these events. Clinical pharmacy services represent a way to tackle this problem. The objective of this study was to perform a cost minimization study on clinical Pharmacist intervention (CPI) in a Rheumatology ward from a General hospital.

During 16 months, CPIs developed in this unit were codified through an instrument proposed by the French Society of Clinica Pharmacy, and avoided costs on Drug acquisition, Medica Devices and working time of nurses were estimated.

610 pharmaceutical interventions were listed during 64 weeks. Among these interventions, 155 resulted in directs savings. 5,940 euro were saved over the period of data collection for an investment of 10,560 euro for pharmacist time. 90% of avoided costs were in these four categories: intravenous to oral administration conversion (44%); overdose (21%); drugs used without any indication (17%) and prescription duration too long (11%).

The mode is based on the rate of acceptance by the physicians of pharmacist recommendations and the impact time (average length of stay). CPI prevents unnecessary costs but should be followed by other partnerships pharmacy-care units to generate benefits in the current economic context.