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Impact of Clinical Pharmacists on Interdisciplinary Mental Health Teams in a Community Setting: A Retrospective Chart
Sukhpreet Poonia1, Mimi Nguyen2, Anna Yee3
1, BSc(Pharm), RPh, PharmD (Hons), is a Clinical Pharmacist Specialist with Community Mental Health & Substance Use Services, Fraser Health Authority, Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services, Langley, British Columbia. She is also a Clinical Instructor with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and an Adjunct Professor with the School of Nursing (Master's Program), The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Background:
Clinical pharmacists play a pivotal role within collaborative care environments, with well-documented contributions on multidisciplinary teams in these settings. Their specific impacts on community mental health and substance use (MHSU) teams remains to be characterized in a publicly funded regional program within Fraser Health.
Objectives:
To describe the impact of medication reviews performed by clinical pharmacists and the uptake by prescribers of pharmaceutical interventions recommended by the clinical pharmacists in an ambulatory MHSU setting.
Methods:
This study involved a retrospective chart review of 100 patients referred to Fraser Health Community MHSU Pharmacy Services across 20 communities within the Fraser Health Authority in British Columbia.
Results:
Clinical pharmacists identified a total of 310 drug therapy problems (DTPs) among the 100 patients. The most common DTPs identified were adverse drug reactions (n = 97, 31%), ineffective drug therapy (n = 68, 22%), unnecessary medications (n = 46, 15%), and the need for additional drug therapy (n = 35, 11%). Prescribers accepted 1 or more of the recommendations made by the clinical pharmacist in 88% (81/92) of the cases with follow-up. More than half (55%, 171/310) of the identified DTPs were resolved within 6 months of the initial pharmacist assessment.
Conclusions:
In this study, embedding clinical pharmacists within community MHSU care teams enhanced medication safety and therapeutic optimization, while reducing polypharmacy. Future investigation into the benefits for long-term clinical outcomes is warranted.
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