Peer review and continuous quality improvement of pharmacists' clinical interventions

A peer-review-based continuous quality improvement (CQI) program for improving pharmacists' clinical interventions at a hospital is described. With the implementation of pharmaceutical care at Detroit Receiving Hospital came the need for a CQI system to validate and improve this type of patient care. A peer-review group (PRG) was formed. The PRG decided to review 60 pharmacist interventions per month for clinical appropriateness, accuracy of entry into the computer, documentation in the medical record by the pharmacist, and implementation if accepted by the physician. Interventions are assigned to individual reviewers, and final decisions on the appropriateness and correctness of the selected interventions are made at periodic PRG meetings. In its first year the PRG met nine times and evaluated 409 interventions; 96% of the interventions were judged clinically appropriate, 62% were accurately entered into the computer, 62% were documented in the medical record by the pharmacist, and 92% were implemented if accepted by the physician. Meetings, additional reviews, and inservice sessions were used to address deficiencies in the interventions; these efforts led to improvements. The clinical appropriateness of documented interventions was included as a medication use indicator in the hospital CQI program. A peer-review-based CQI process allowed a hospital to effectively monitor and improve the quality and documentation of interventions recommended by pharmacists.