Integrated clinical pharmacy activities into the pediatric kidney graft pathway

Area of Science:

• Nephrology
• Pediatric Nephrology
• Clinical Pharmacy

Background:

• Pediatric renal graft recipients face risks of care discontinuation, impacting therapeutic adherence.
• Optimizing medication management is crucial for long-term graft survival and patient well-being.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility and integration of clinical pharmacy services within the pediatric renal graft care pathway.
• To assess the impact of these services on medication prescription analysis and patient follow-up.

Main Methods:

• A three-stage feasibility study: structuring, implementation, and evaluation.
• Inclusion of 32 pediatric patients over 8 months, encompassing pre-transplant, immediate, and remote post-transplant phases.
• Methods included patient interviews and pharmaceutical analysis of medication prescriptions.

Main Results:

• All patients in pre-transplant and immediate post-transplant phases benefited from clinical pharmacy activities.
• Pharmaceutical analysis identified at least one problem in all initial M0 prescriptions.
• Follow-up maintenance was provided to half of the transplanted patients at Month 1 and one patient at Month 3; no Month 6 follow-up was feasible.

Conclusions:

• Clinical pharmacy activities are feasible and can be well-integrated into the pediatric renal graft care pathway.
• The study highlights the importance of pharmaceutical review in identifying and addressing medication-related issues.
• Further research is needed to optimize long-term follow-up strategies within this integrated care model.