Pharmacy audit: an aid to continuing education

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy practice
• Drug utilization review
• Patient care quality

Background:

• Pharmacist involvement in patient care is crucial.
• Drug usage reviews are essential for optimizing medication therapy.
• Existing audit procedures can be adapted for drug reviews.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss pharmacist participation in drug-specific patient care reviews.
• To illustrate criteria for drug usage review.
• To present findings from a comparative study on drug usage review criteria.

Main Methods:

• Adapted retrospective audit procedures from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.
• Developed and applied criteria for drug usage review.
• Conducted a comparison study to evaluate care based on established criteria.

Main Results:

• Identified deficiencies in current drug usage practices.
• Provided data from a comparative study illustrating the impact of review criteria.
• Highlighted areas for improvement in patient care related to drug utilization.

Conclusions:

• Pharmacist-led drug-specific reviews are effective in assessing patient care.
• Established criteria and adapted audit procedures can identify areas for improvement.
• Drug-specific protocols, potentially integrated into continuing education, can enhance drug usage and patient care.