Care plan for documenting pharmacist activities

At a 393-bed hospital, a pharmaceutical care plan was developed and tested in a surgical intensive care unit (SICU). The trial care plan was developed and implemented with the following objectives: to integrate clinical and distributive elements of patient information in a care plan; to add new monitoring and intervention parameters to the pharmacy profile; and to assess and refine the care plan for implementation in other areas of the institution. One pharmacist performed and documented care for 10 patients in the SICU. The pharmacist planned appropriate drug administration schedules, noted appropriate indications for each medication ordered, established appropriate outcomes, monitored for drug-drug or drug-food interactions and allergies, recorded interventions and averted adverse drug reactions, and recorded the amount of time required for care according to disease state. Pharmacist involvement with medication administration and monitoring seemed to prevent many adverse effects and drug interactions. Because of the diversity of the patient population, there was substantial variation in the time spent on care. A trial pharmaceutical care plan in a surgical intensive care unit was useful for documenting pharmacists' productivity and effectiveness.