Validation of pharmacist-physician collaboration in psychiatry: 'the Eichberger-model'

Background Collaboration between physicians and pharmacists can increase medication safety. In the "Eichberger model" a clinical pharmacist is employed and working full time in a psychiatric hospital. Objective The aim of this study was to determine the expected type of expertise from a clinical pharmacist in psychiatry and the acceptance of the pharmacist's recommendations. Method All email requests to the clinical pharmacist from January 1st to April 30th 2015 were screened retrospectively and type of requester and content of request were extracted. Maintenance rate of drug therapy was analyzed by reviewing patient charts 2 weeks after medication prescription. Results A total of 147 requests were included. 85 (57.8%) requests were from attending physicians and 62 (42.2%) from residents. 82.1% of all physicians were contacting the clinical pharmacist during the study period. Most common reasons for requests were: appropriate drug selection (31.3%), drug interactions (25.2%), possible adverse drug events (17%) and switching drugs (12.2%). The acceptance rate by the physicians was 100%, with an implementation and maintenance rate of both 98.6%. Conclusion We found a high acceptance level of the pharmacist's recommendations. The pharmacist's skills were requested by the majority of physicians and included a in a large variety of specific questions. A pharmacist can play an important role to optimize patient care in collaboration with the physician in psychiatry.