Implementation of Pharmacist-Led Medication Review Service for Parkinson's Disease Patients Admitted for Deep Brain...

Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical impact of a specialized pharmacist-led medication assessment on the incidence of dopamine antagonists administered for patients with Parkinson's disease after deep brain stimulation (DBS). Methods This was a single-center, Institutional Review Board-approved, two-phase study with pre- and post-implementation cohorts of patients who were 18 years of age or older who underwent DBS for treatment of Parkinson's disease. The primary endpoint was the incidence of dopamine antagonists administered after DBS procedure. Secondary endpoints included the incidence of dopamine antagonists ordered; restarting home Parkinson's disease regimen; rate of tardive dyskinesia; length of hospital stay; and incidence of sitters, restraints, and medications administered for acute agitation. Statistical analysis included Fisher's exact test for categorical data, unpaired t-test for continuous data, and descriptive statistics for all other data. Results The incidence of dopamine antagonists administered was 1 (1.2%) versus 1 (25%) for the pre- and post-implementation groups, respectively (P = 0.09). Restarting of home Parkinson's disease regimen was 30 (36.1%) versus 4 (100%); P = 0.021. The average length of stay was 1.9 days versus 1.3 days. Incidence of sitters was 1 (1.2%) versus 0 (0%), and incidence of restraints was 0 (0%) versus 0 (0%). Incidence of acute agitation medications administered was 9 (10.8%) versus 0 (0%). The secondary endpoints were not significant except for the restarting of home medication regimen. Conclusion The specialized pharmacist-led medication review service identified a single incident of inappropriate medications administered for Parkinson's disease patients status post DBS. However, it did significantly increase the incidence of the restart of Parkinson's disease home regimen.