Clinical pharmacy on-call program in the emergency department

Emergency departments often require rapid drug therapy decisions. Prior research has shown that clinical pharmacists can contribute to these decisions. However, the extent of their involvement in 24-hour settings remains unclear. No prior work had resolved how residency programs integrate into emergency settings. This gap motivated the evaluation of a residency-based on-call model. The study aimed to address how pharmacists function in such environments. It was already known that physician acceptance of pharmacist recommendations is variable. That uncertainty drove the need to assess acceptance rates in this specific context. The study sought to clarify the role of pharmacists in emergency drug therapy consultations.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate a clinical pharmacy on-call program in an emergency department. The goal was to determine the feasibility of 24-hour consultative services provided by pharmacy residents. The specific problem was the lack of data on resident-led emergency pharmacy consultations. The motivation was to assess whether such a program could support emergency care. The study aimed to measure consultation frequency and acceptance rates. It also sought to estimate the time required per consultation. The researchers proposed that resident involvement could improve emergency drug therapy decisions. The study aimed to provide evidence for the value of this model in teaching hospitals.

The study employed a descriptive and evaluative design. It focused on a clinical pharmacy residency on-call program. The setting was a teaching hospital's emergency department. Data were collected over a two-year evaluation period. The primary metric was the number of consultations per 14-hour call period. Physician acceptance of recommendations was also tracked. Consultations were initiated by internal medicine physicians. The time spent per consultation was measured and averaged. The researchers used these metrics to assess program effectiveness.

Clinical pharmacy residents completed 3.1 consultations per 14-hour call period. Greater than 90% of recommendations were accepted by physicians. These consultations were initiated by internal medicine physicians. Each consultation involved patient-specific drug therapy recommendations. The average consultation time was 100 minutes per case. The majority of consultations occurred in the emergency department setting. The study found high physician acceptance of pharmacist recommendations. The findings suggest that the on-call program was effective in supporting emergency care.

The authors suggested that clinical pharmacy consultative services can be a useful addition to emergency care. They proposed that residency-based on-call models are feasible in teaching hospitals. The study found that physician acceptance of recommendations was high. The authors emphasized the value of resident involvement in emergency drug therapy. They suggested that the program could improve patient-specific drug therapy decisions. The findings indicated that the time spent per consultation was manageable. The authors proposed that such programs could be replicated in similar settings. They suggested that this model supports the integration of pharmacists into emergency care teams.