A prospective analysis of clinical pharmacy interventions on an acute psychiatric inpatient unit.
A standardized data collection form was developed to enable uniform documentation of all clinical pharmacy interventions undertaken for an acute-care, psychiatric inpatient population during a 6-month study period. This information included demographic data as well as details of the drugs involved, the nature of the drug-related problems, the type of intervention and an estimate of the significance of the intervention. A total of 204 clinical interventions were proposed for 69 patients (mean age 66.8 years, range 28-85 years). The proposed interventions were accepted by medical staff in 187 (91.7%) instances. Antidepressants were the class of drug most often generating clinical interventions (34.7% of total interventions). The most common type of intervention was a recommendation for the commencement of drug therapy (28.8%), followed by recommendations for enhanced patient monitoring (23.5%). In 20.3% of cases the interventions were estimated to be of major significance. This study suggests that the provision of clinical pharmacy services in the acute-care, adult, psychiatric setting has the potential to generate a considerable range of interventions aimed at optimizing treatment outcomes.
Alderman
C P
CP
Pharmacy Department, Repatriation General Hospital, Daw Park, South Australia.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001315:Australia; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital
D000928:Antidepressive Agents