Economic impact of pharmacists' interventions with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the economic impact of community pharmacists' interventions following the detection of problems related to nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), whether in a prescription or self-medication format. The evaluation focused on the gastroduodenal adverse events that could be avoided and the subsequent savings of healthcare resources spent on treating these adverse effects.


METHODS
A previous study conducted during a 12-week period in 924 French community pharmacies provided the number of interventions for drug-related problems concerning NSAIDs. A simulation model was constructed to compare 2 strategies: a systematic pharmacist's intervention and the absence of intervention. The base-case patient was assumed to have been taking an NSAID for 3 months. The model's inputs were extracted from medical literature and from an institutional medical database.


RESULTS
In this study, 608 interventions were the results of NSAID-related problems. All of these interventions reduced the risk of gastrointestinal adverse events and avoided a total cost of 37 300.


CONCLUSIONS
This model indicates that the dispensing of NSAIDs by pharmacists and related pharmaceutical care activities have a positive impact by reducing the number of gastrointestinal complications. The model quantifies the costs thus avoided. It also underlines the necessity of effective collaboration between the prescriber and the pharmacist if optimal patient management is to be achieved.
Guignard
Adrienne P
AP
Département d'Information Médicale, Unité de Méthodologie en Evaluation Médicale, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France. adrienne.guignard@chu-lyon.fr
Couray-Targe
Sandrine
S
Colin
Cyrille
C
Chamba
Geneviève
G
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000191:economics*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D017046:Cost Savings; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D018803:Models, Economic; D010595:Pharmacists; D011336:Probability; D024382:Professional Role; D012308:Risk Management; D012651:Self Medication; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal