Value of pharmacy services in an outpatient, preoperative, anesthesia clinic

This pilot study assessed the expansion of pharmacy services to a preoperative, anesthesia clinic.

Tertiary care academic medical center.

Medication histories were routinely obtained by clinic nurses, and pharmacy services were not available.

A prospective, single-center, pilot study enrolled English-speaking patients aged 65 years or older in a preoperative clinic before a scheduled surgery. Patient attributes including health literacy and preparatory activities were measured using verbal and written questionnaires. Home medication lists were obtained by both clinic nurses (routine care) and a pharmacist (research), and the 2 lists were compared to identify medication discrepancies for each patient. Discrepancies were categorized by type and severity.

This study evaluated the potential impact of medication histories obtained by pharmacists compared with those obtained by clinic nurses during geriatric preoperative clinic visits.

Of the 44 patients who gave their consent and were included in this pilot study, 25% (n = 11) had limited/marginal written and verbal health literacy, and 20% (n = 9) had limited/marginal numerical health literacy. Of the 38 patients who completed the pharmacist medication history interview, only 21% (n = 8) brought a complete list of their current medications to the preoperative clinic, 95% (n = 36) had at least 1 medication discrepancy, and 61% (n = 23) had at least 1 clinically meaningful discrepancy. Clinically meaningful discrepancies were identified for 8% (35 of 459) of medications and occurred most commonly for blood pressure medications, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and beta blockers.

In this study, medication history discrepancies identified by pharmacists suggest that the expansion of pharmacy services into the preoperative clinic is feasible and could potentially prevent meaningful medication errors among geriatric patients being admitted for a scheduled surgery.